At least 13 people were killed and more than 52 others injured in a US air strike on Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Sadr City early on Sunday, an Interior Ministry source said.

 

US troops conducted an early morning air raid on residential areas in the vast Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Sadr City, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

 

During the raid, fierce clashes broke out between the US troops and militants believed to be Mahdi Army, a militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the source said.

 

US aircraft took part in the clashes conducting air strike on the areas which resulted in the killing of at least 13 people and the wounding of more than 52 others, along with the destruction of several houses, shops and civilian cars, the source said.

 

Sadr City is a stronghold of Sadr's Mahdi Army, who declared recently a six-month freeze of armed activities for his militia. The US military has no immediate comment on the incident.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 21, 2007)