Add Your Photos and Video to This Story

Baghdad clashes leave 400 Iraqis, 2 Americans dead

by Dave Keating | April 30, 2008 at 08:03 am | 92 views | add comment

Violence in Baghdad is increasing as US and Iraqi forces fight militants loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr. Intense fighting began Sunday after militia members attacked coalition positions during a sandstorm.

More than 400 people have been killed in fighting over the last month between Shia gunmen and US and Iraqi forces, hospital officials in Baghdad say.

The Sadr City district of the Iraqi capital has seen most of the fighting as the government tries to disarm members of Shia militias.

Two US soldiers have died in latest Baghdad clashes, the US military said.

April has been the most lethal month for US troops in Iraq, with 46 deaths, since September, when 65 soldiers died.

The US military said both soldiers died in the north-west of the city on Tuesday night in separate attacks.

One soldier was killed when he came under small-arms fire, the other died when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.