Attacks strike on anniversary
Iraqi security forces and Shiite militiamen clashed today in Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood, where attacks killed 16 people on the fifth anniversary of the U.S. capture of the capital.
The heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses diplomatic missions and much of Iraq’s government, came under renewed attack by rockets or mortars despite a daylong vehicle ban aimed at preventing Shiite gunmen from moving freely about the city.
The U.S. embassy said there were no immediate reports of casualties in the Green Zone attack.
The euphoria of victory dissipated soon after U.S. troops swept into Baghdad and toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime, with the outbreak of a Sunni insurgency, then Sunni-Shiite slaughter and now battles against Shiite militiamen.
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Police said the seven of the victims in Sadr City — including three children — died when projectiles slammed into a house in the sprawling slum, a stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
