Region | Iraq

US says 20 fighters killed in Baghdad clashes

Twenty militia fighters were killed in clashes with US forces overnight during the "hottest night" in weeks, after cleric Moqtada Al Sadr threatened to declare open war, a US military spokesman said.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 15:20 April 20, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Image Credit: AP
  • Cleric Moqtada Al Sadr threatened open war on the Iraqi government.

Baghdad: Twenty militia fighters were killed in clashes with US forces overnight during the "hottest night" in weeks, after cleric Moqtada Al Sadr threatened to declare open war, a US military spokesman said.

Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover described a series of gunbattles and air strikes in the Sadr City slum, stronghold of the cleric's Mahdi Army fighters, in which a total of 20 fighters died.

"I would say it's been the hottest night in a couple of weeks," he said.

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