BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Sunday, a day after Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr threatened to launch an "open war" against the U.S.-backed government.
Six people were killed in overnight clashes between Sadr's gunmen and U.S. and Iraqi forces in the cleric's East Baghdad enclave, the sprawling Sadr City slum, police said.
Rice praised Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's security efforts and said that she was in Iraq to help promote reconciliation among factions.
Maliki launched a crackdown on Sadr's followers last month that has led to the worst fighting in Iraq in nearly a year at a time when the United States is bringing home extra troops sent under last year's "surge" strategy.
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