U.S. troops kill 13 al-Sadr loyalists

From CNN

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- American soldiers have killed 13 Iraqi militia loyal to renegade Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and have detained 14 others in overnight fighting near Najaf, U.S. military officials said Tuesday.

Late Monday, members of al-Sadr's Mehdi Army attempted to ambush a U.S. convoy with small arms fire. No American forces were injured in the incident.

The U.S. military began a major offensive Sunday to retake control of parts of the city, reclaiming the governor's palace from al-Sadr's control.

Al-Sadr, who is wanted in connection with the killing of a rival cleric last year, launched an uprising against U.S. troops in April. Since then, coalition forces have cracked down on the cleric's strongholds while trying to avoid religious sites.


There is an interesting bit buried in this story that caught my eye.

On Monday, coalition forces entered the center of Fallujah -- the site of intense fighting between Marines and Iraqi insurgents last month.

An Iraqi Civilian Defense Corps unit, accompanied by a small contingent of U.S. forces, entered the city center in a convoy of about 16 vehicles, according to journalist Hazim Abboud.

The fighting in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, was sparked by the killing and mutilation of four American contractors in the city on March 31. Nearly a third of Fallujah's 200,000 people fled the fighting.

After all the international attention on Falluja you would think this would get more attention. Yet here it is buried in a CNN article. It never ceases to amaze me how news organizations will drop one "hot" story and chase the next one; just like an ambulance chaser.