Iraq

US jets bomb Sadr City again

Article published on the 2008-04-21 Latest update 2008-04-21 15:13 TU

Sadr City, Iraq after an air attack
(Photo : Reuters)

In Baghdad, residents of the poor Shia-Muslim district of Sadr City report that low-flying US military jets bombed two parts of their neighbourhood on Sunday, returning later with helicopters that fired missiles at four targets in the neighbourhood. The attack was not immediately confirmed by US officials.

Officials did confirm that five people were killed in Sadr City in eastern Baghdad and said another four people who were planning to launch rockets were killed by Hellfire missiles fired from drones.

The US military said that a gunman was killed and two were wounded when they attacked a military observation post and US troops returned fire.

Sadr City, considered to be one of the strongholds of hard-line Shia-Muslim  cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, has been under siege by coalition troops since the end of March, when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on militias throughout the country. Hundreds have been killed in the neighbourhood since the start of the campaign.

Meanwhile, al-Maliki left for Kuwait to attend Tuesday's Iraq neighbours' conference on security issues.

Others in attendance will include US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the five permanent UN Security Council members, including US, France, Great Britain, China and Russia, as well as Group of Eight nations.

Egypt and Bahrain representatives will also attend. Iran will also attend the meeting, but it is unclear how high-level a delegation it intends to send.