52 killed in Iraq violence
Baghdad has suffered the fiercest fighting since a massive security crackdown began in the Iraqi capital two months ago.
A raging, day-long battle erupted in central Baghdad yesterday and four Iraqi soldiers were killed, 16 US soldiers were wounded and a US helicopter was hit by ground fire.
Twenty insurgents were killed and 30 wounded, a US military spokesman said today.
Sixty miles to the north, in the mostly Sunni city of Muqdadiyah, a woman with a suicide vest strapped beneath her black robe blew herself up in the midst of 200 Iraqi police recruits. The attack killed at least 16 men waiting to learn if they had been hired.
The security crackdown, which began on February 14 and will see nearly 170,000 American forces in Iraq by the end of May, has curbed some sectarian attacks and assassinations in the capital. But violence continues to flare periodically in Baghdad and has risen markedly in nearby cities and towns.
The violence in central Baghdad shut down the Sunni-dominated Fadhil and Sheikh Omar neighbourhoods, the US military said. After American and Iraqi troops came under fire during a routine search operation, helicopter gunships swooped in, engaging insurgents with machine gun fire.
Some Arab television stations reported an American helicopter was shot down in the fight, and showed video of a charred piece of mechanical wreckage that was impossible to identify. The US issued a statement saying an attack helicopter suffered damage from small arms fire, but returned to base.
A US spokesman said 12 of 15 wounded Americans had returned to duty, though the military initially said 16 soldiers were hurt.
Close to the battle, a rocket slammed into a school basketball court, killing a six-year-old boy.
Police said it was a stray Katyusha rocket that hit the playground and at least 17 were wounded – 15 students and two teachers.
The resumption of violence was in stunning contrast to Monday, when a 24-hour driving ban left the capital eerily quiet on the fourth anniversary of its capture by American forces.
But just hours after the ban was lifted before dawn yesterday, artillery fire echoed across the city. By day’s end, at least 52 people were killed or found dead nationwide in violence confined mainly to Sunni enclaves.
