Four People Killed in Baghdad Violence

Four people killed in Baghdad violence

BAGHDAD, April 20 (Xinhua) — Four people were killed and seven others injured in clashes and mortar barrages across Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said on Sunday.

Four people were killed when fierce clashes erupted early in the morning between Mahdi Army militiamen and U.S. troops in Baghdad’s eastern neighborhood of Shaab, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Shaab is adjacent to the sprawling district of Sadr City, the stronghold of Mahdi Army militia loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Sadr’s militia, recently, fought fierce clashes against the U.S. – backed Iraqi security forces in several Iraqi cities, including Baghdad.

Earlier in the morning, seven people were wounded when a mortar round landed on the Abu-Dishir neighborhood in southern Baghdad, the source said.

At dawn, four mortar rounds set orchards on fire in the neighborhood of al-Huseiniya in northeastern Baghdad, he said.

The areas where the incidents occurred are predominantly Shiite neighborhoods where tensions run high between the Sadr followers and the government of the Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki who warned that Sadr must disband the Mahdi Army militia or will be barred from the political process and the upcoming provincial elections.

On Saturday, Sadr threatened to “open war” against the Iraqi government if the U.S.-backed Iraqi troops continue to crack down on his Mahdi Army militiamen.

“If they don’t stop the infiltrated militia, then we will declare war until liberation,” Sadr said in a statement posted on the internet.

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