Fighting Erupts in Baghdad's Sadr City

Fighting erupted early Monday in a Shiite militia stronghold of Baghdad, and a suicide bomber blew himself up among mourners at a funeral in Saddam Hussein's hometown, killing 10 people and injuring 22.

In Baghdad, sounds of heavy gunfire and explosions rattled the Sadr City district starting about 1 a.m. Monday and lasted for more than an hour. Iraqi government television and aides to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said U.S. aircraft were attacking buildings in the area. "Several aerial and ground raids began in central Sadr City," al-Sadr aide Jaleel al-Nouri said by telephone as detonations could be heard in the background. "We can see several houses on fire."

Kadhim al-Mohammedawi, a civil servant who lives in Sadr City, said by telephone that he could see two houses ablaze and "there's gunfire from all sides." "We can hear women and children screaming," he said.

Col. Hassan Chaloub, police chief of Sadr City, said U.S. jets were flying over the city and at least three houses were ablaze. He said calls of "God is Great" and "There's no God but God" were blasting from loudspeakers in area mosques. Three U.S. soldiers were killed late Sunday in a roadside bombing southwest of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

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