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.

The militia fighters struck with rocket-propelled grenades andmachine guns barrages fired from alleys and rooftops, the militarysaid.

As the troops pulled back, one vehicle was hit with two roadsidebombs, Stover said. Six American soldiers were wounded.

Stover said 28 militiamen were killed when U.S. forces hit backwith rockets.

Officials at two local hospitals said about 25 people had diedand several dozen were wounded -- most civilians. The officialsspoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized torelease the information.

Associated Press photos showed men pulling the dust-covered bodyof a 2-year-old boy, Ali Hussein, from the rubble of one building.

U.S. officials said all precautions are taken to preventcivilian casualties, but blamed the militiamen for taking coveramong their neighbors and families.

"The enemy continues to show little regard for innocentcivilians, as they fire their weapons from within houses, alleywaysand rooftops upon our soldiers," said Col. Allen Batschelet, chiefof staff for the 4th Infantry Division in Baghdad.

AP Television News footage showed children running for coverbehind blast walls amid gunshots. Men helped carry severalblood-soaked injured people onto stretchers to a local emergencyhospital. Outside the hospital, the dead were placed inside plainwooden coffins.

Also in Baghdad, a senior government official was killed in aroadside bombing in the north of the city.

Dhia Jodi Jaber, director general at the Ministry of Labor andSocial Affairs, was hit by a roadside bomb as he left his home, theministry's spokesman Abdullah al-Lami said.

Insurgents frequently target governmental officials andinstitutions in a bid to disrupt the government's work.

Separately, an Iraqi court adjourned until May 20 the trial ofTariq Aziz, one of Saddam Hussein's best-known lieutenants, andseven other defendants over charges of allegedly ordering theexecution of dozens of merchants for profiteering half an hourafter it started.

The judge postponed the trial, saying co-defendant Ali Hassanal-Majid, Saddam Hussein's cousin who is known as "Chemical Ali,"was too ill to attend.

Associated Press writers Hamid Ahmed and Sinan Salaheddincontributed to this report.