2-Year-Old Boy Killed in Iraq Battle

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 30, 2008— -- Dozens of fighters ambushed a U.S. patrol inBaghdad's main Shiite militia stronghold Tuesday, firingrocket-propelled grenades and machine gun bursts as the Americanpush into Sadr City increasingly faces pockets of close urbancombat.

U.S. forces struck back with 200-pound guided rockets thatdevastated at least three buildings in the densely packed districtthat serves as the Baghdad base for the powerful Mahdi Armymilitia.

The U.S. military said 28 militiamen were killed as the U.S.patrol pulled back. Local hospital officials said dozens ofcivilians were killed or wounded.

Such street battles - in tight confines and amid frightenedcivilians - are increasingly becoming a hallmark of the drive intoSadr City and recall the type of head-on clashes last seen in largenumbers during last year's U.S. troop buildup in Baghdad andsurrounding areas.

U.S. troops often have fought intense gunbattles as they clearedneighborhoods in Baghdad and former Sunni insurgent havens such asAnbar and Diyala provinces. But roadside bombings and rocket ormortar volleys against bases have been the more frequent mode ofattack in recent years.

Clashes have intensified in Sadr City since the Mahdi Armyleader -- the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr -- reiterated histhreat of an all-out war against U.S.-led forces last week. U.S.troops, meanwhile, find themselves increasingly drawn into thefight opened by the Iraqi government to cripple the power of Shiitemilitias.

"We are seeing larger groups of militants actually aggressivelyattacking Iraqi and U.S. security forces," said Lt. Col. SteveStover, a military spokesman for American troops in Baghdad."We've seen more of the brazen attacks in the daytime recently."

The ambush Tuesday came as a U.S. patrol of heavily armoredStryker vehicles and tanks moved along a road where the U.S.military is putting up a concrete barrier - which seeks to cut offthe militants' movements and hamper their ability to fire rocketsand mortars at the U.S.-protected Green Zone.