08 August 2004	Sunday	21 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

BAGHDAD, Aug 7: At least seven people were killed and 29 were wounded, including 10 women and children, in fighting on Saturday between US troops and Iraqi militiamen in Baghdad's Sadr City, medics said.

Two hospitals said they had received seven dead and 29 wounded patients, including five women and five children, after the clashes in the the slum area, a bastion of support for militia leader Moqtada Sadr.

One woman was among the dead, said an official at the Sadr general hospital.

Gunmen manned checkpoints around the northeastern district, refusing to let people in. A correspondent said landmines had been strewn about on the streets as sporadic gunshots ricocheted through the neighbourhood.

The main Falah and Dakhil streets were completely shut down and three loud explosions boomed out from the southern entrance into Sadr City.

Officials at the Sadr general hospital complained of food shortages and said Mehdi militiamen had prevented staff members living outside the neighbourhood from getting to work.

A photographer said about 10 US tanks rolled into the sprawling slum, coming under rocket-propelled grenade and mortar fire from Mehdi Army fighters based about 100 metres away.

US marines battled militiamen in the holy city of Najaf for a third day on Saturday as the death toll mounted in the worst bout of fighting in Iraq in four months.

The fresh fighting marks a major challenge for US-backed Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and has destroyed a two-month-old ceasefire between US forces and the Mehdi Army.

A US military position near the fortified Green Zone area in central Baghdad was hit by several projectiles on Saturday night without causing damage or casualties, a military spokesman said.

"Six to seven explosions hit a forward operating base at the Green Zone, but there was no damage or casualties to personnel whatsoever," said the spokesman.-Agencies