US-led forces say kill 11 in Iraqi Shi'ite city

DIWANIYA, Iraq, Oct 10 (Reuters) US and Iraqi troops killed 11 militants, many dressed as Iraqi policeman, in clashes around a mosque in the flashpoint southern Shi'ite city of Diwaniya on Monday night, the US military said today.

The military said the fighting erupted after militants opened fire on a routine joint US-Iraqi patrol, but a senior representative of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the city said the troops had been trying to arrest him.

The fighting follows fierce street battles in the city. The US military said 30 militants were killed and a US tank severely damaged when US and Iraqi troops entere Diwaniya on Sunday to detain a ''high-value target''.

The suspect was accused of involvement in the summary execution of 13 Iraqi soldiers who ran out of ammunition and were captured during a firefight with Shi'ite militiamen in the town in August.

The US military did not identify the target of Sunday's raid but he was believed to be a leader of Sadr's Mehdi Army. The militia has a strong presence in the city's southern districts.

The deputy manager of Sadr's office in Diwaniya, Khudair al-Ansari, said his bodyguards had clashed with US forces on Monday as they tried to arrest him outside al-Qaim mosque at dusk, as Muslims were breaking their day-long Ramzan fast.

''I was expecting this. I was sure they would try to arrest me,'' Ansari told Reuters, adding that he had deliberately been staying away from mosques during the holy month of Ramadan.

US and Iraqi forces have clashed repeatedly in recent weeks with Mehdi Army militiamen. Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has vowed to crack down on militias, who are blamed for much of the sectarian violence that threatens civil war.

Ansari said he had seen eight US armoured Humvee vehicles as he and two bodyguards were about to enter al-Qaim mosque. When they spotted the Americans they had decided to flee.

''They shot at us. One of my guards has two or three grenades and the other has a machinegun. They returned fire and set fire to one of the Humvees. We then withdrew peacefully, thanks God,'' he said.

The US military confirmed the grenades had been thrown from the vicinity of the mosque but said the attack occurred when a joint US-Iraqi patrol stopped at a police checkpoint.

It said Iraqi troops had returned fire and killed two militants, but the patrol then came under renewed attack by gunmen armed with rocket propelled grenades.

''During the attack the patrol was fired upon by six to seven enemy fighters dressed as Iraqi policemen. The patrol returned fire and killed six of the terrorist dressed as Iraqi police and heavily damaged a pickup truck Iraqi police markings,'' the US military said in a statement.

A gunman on the roof of the mosque was also killed, they said, adding that coalition forces had suffered two injuries.

The local hospital, however, said there had been only two casualties -- a man and a woman who were wounded -- and no fatalities.

Reuters BDP RS1823