May 01, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 24, 1429

BAGHDAD, April 30: Clashes between militiamen and security forces have killed more than 900 people in Baghdad’s Sadr City, an Iraqi official said on Wednesday, as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed to keep up the offensive.

The latest death toll from the Sadr City fighting that erupted late last month is set to make April the deadliest month this year, denting US and Iraqi government claims of improved security.

“There were 925 martyrs in Sadr City and 2,605 others have been wounded,” Tehseen Sheikhly, spokesman for the government’s Baghdad security plan, told reporters.

Fierce clashes between US and Iraqi forces and militiamen, mostly from the Mahdi Army, broke out after Maliki ordered a crackdown on militias in the main southern city of Basra on March 25.

The crackdown triggered an eruption of violence across Iraq, particularly Sadr City.

On Wednesday, fresh clashes left another 13 militants killed, the American military said.

In one firefight, seven militants were killed after US soldiers were targeted by mortar fire in the southern sector of Sadr City, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Steven Stover said.

It was not immediately clear whether the deaths of 13 militants were included in the overall toll given by Sheikhly.

The clashes have also inflicted a heavy toll on US forces. At least 21 soldiers have been killed in Baghdad in April, a significant number of them in and around Sadr City.

The US military has in April lost at least 47 soldiers across Iraq, making it the deadliest month since last September when 65 troops were killed, according to a tally based on independent website www.icasualties.org.

Iraqi casualty figures for April from government ministries were not expected before Thursday but in March at least 1,082 people were killed, according to the figures.

The US military has vowed to press its fight against the “criminals” in Sadr City in the face of persistent rocket and mortar fire against the heavily-fortified Green Zone that houses the Iraqi government and US embassy.

On Wednesday, Maliki accused the militiamen of using civilians as “human shields” while fighting the security forces.

“Criminals and lawless gangs are using human shields in Sadr City ... They are following the steps of the Baathist regime,” Maliki told a press conference.

“They are trying to gain sympathy but they are using the lies and the values of the former regime” of Saddam Hussein.

The US military says that gunmen have been firing at troops from rooftops, alleways and houses resulting in firefights in which civilians are often killed.—AFP