Shi’ite militia destroy U.S. tank in Baghdad

Fierce clashes raged in Baghdad’s mainly Shi’ite suburb today with militiamen destroying a U.S. tank, witnesses said.

U.S. forces had sealed Sadr City, a slum of two million people on the edge of the capital, earlier today after days of skirmishes that coincided with a radical Shi’ite uprising in at least eight cities in central and southern Iraq.

The witnesses said Mehdi Army militiamen loyal to firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr hit a tank with a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) and set it ablaze.

Reuters Television footage showed the tank on fire. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military.

A U.S. helicopter gunship later strafed the street where the tank was hit. Militiamen fired more RPGs and assualt rifles. (Reuters)

http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG4_sub.asp?ccode=ENG4&newscode=67182