BAGHDAD: US troops shot dead 11 suspected militants in a Shia district of the Iraqi capital yesterday, the American military said.
It said the men were “Special Group criminals,” a term used for Shia militants backed by Iranian groups, and said one of them was about to target US troops with a roadside mine when he was gunned down.
“Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldiers have killed 11 Special Group criminals in an ongoing operation” in the east of the capital, the military said in a statement.
The statement came just hours after the American military denied their troops were involved in any clash in Al Obeidi district near the Shia stronghold of Sadr City.
A truce has taken effect in Sadr City after weeks of deadly street battles between militiamen and US troops.
Local officials said the shooting broke out after a joint patrol of US troops and Iraqi police was hit by a roadside bomb blast.
The US military in its later statement said one of the victims had tried to place a mine when he was shot dead.
The attack came a day after Iraqi security forces poured into Sadr City for the first time in eight weeks following a truce between the government and followers of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
An interior ministry official said another person was killed and six others were wounded in a car bomb blast in Baghdad’s Mansur neighbourhood, away from Sadr City.
In a separate incident, gunmen shot dead police Colonel Abdul Kareem Muhssan in the south of the capital.
Despite the Al Obeidi incident, Sadr City remained calm yesterday, local residents said, adding that more Iraqi troops were seen out on the streets of the sprawling slum district. - AFP |
