20 more Iraqis die in Sadr City clashes

BAGHDAD - Errant mortar shells slammed into houses and a funeral tent Wednesday, leaving three children among the dead during clashes in a Shiite militia stronghold under siege by American and Iraqi forces on the fifth anniversary of the U.S. capture of the capital.

The fighting came as the U.S. military announced the deaths of five more soldiers. That raised the number of American troop deaths to 17 since Sunday.

Many Iraqis said hopes that followed the U.S.-led ouster of Saddam Hussein have been quashed.

"On this day five years ago we were dreaming of a bright future, but now we know that our dream has turned into a long nightmare," said Khalid Ibrahim, a 45-year-old teacher from the mainly Sunni area of Azamiyah.

In many ways, Baghdad resembles more of a war zone than it did on April 9, 2003, when American Marines stormed into the capital and pulled down a bronze statue of Saddam with the help of dozens of Iraqis.

The city of some 6 million people has largely been carved up along sectarian lines, a patchwork of neighborhoods surrounded by 10-foot-high concrete walls and dotted with checkpoints.

Violence declined last year and early this year following a cease-fire by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, an influx of some 30,000 additional American troops and a Sunni revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq.

But a recent government crackdown on al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia has provoked fierce retaliation, underscoring the fragility of the security gains.

For the Bush administration, the clashes over the past two weeks have served as an unwelcome backdrop to congressional hearings in Washington by the top two U.S. officials in Iraq — Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker.

Petraeus testimony
Petraeus told lawmakers Wednesday that he is unlikely to call for another troop buildup in Iraq, even if security deteriorates after the extra American soldiers return home this summer.

To prevent violence in connection with the anniversary, Baghdad authorities banned traffic citywide from 5 a.m. to midnight.

The streets around Firdous Square — where Saddam's statue used to stand — were largely empty on Wednesday. A few pedestrians passed through, carrying plastic shopping bags. Police officers sat at a checkpoint, ready to stop any unauthorized vehicles.

Al-Sadr called off a mass anti-U.S. demonstration he had planned for Wednesday after his followers in the south complained that Iraqi security forces were preventing them from traveling to Baghdad.

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