Iraqi troops battle rebels
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Baghdad, Aug 28, IRNA
Iraq-Security
Iraqi troops fought fierce street battles with rebels in the central town of Diwaniyah on Monday.
According to Iraqi Defense Ministry, some 20 soldiers and 40 rebels were in the fighting which has been going on since Sunday.
Diwaniyah's hospitals have received the bodies of 19 soldiers and seven civilians after two days of clashes.
Some 43 people had been treated for wounds sustained in the fighting.
The fighting began when Iraqi troops were setting up a cordon around Diwaniyah after rebels of the Mahdi Army seized complete control of two neighborhoods.
The rebels have set up their own checkpoints and there are improvised explosive devices everywhere, local people said.
An Iraqi army captain in Diwaniyah said: "We have also asked for more troops from other provinces because a big military operation has been planned."
The Mahdi Army is a rebel force nominally loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. At the same time Sadr movement has ministers in Iraq's coalition government.
The rebels have rejected a call from Sadr for them to put aside their weapons to take part in Iraq's political process.
A senior Sadr supporter in the nearby holy Shia city of Najaf, Sahab al-Ameri, also disowned the fighters.
The fighting in Diwaniyah came as a suicide car bomber attacked the interior ministry in Baghdad, killing 14 people and injuring 45.
An official said eight police commandos were among those killed when the bomber detonated his cargo of explosives near a checkpoint outside the interior ministry's tightly guarded compound in downtown Baghdad.
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