Thirty Dead Mahdi Army Clashes

For the second time in less than two months, there have been clashes between joint Iraqi and Coalition forces and the Mahdi Army, belonging to the Shia cleric, Muqtada Sadir, in Diwaniyyah 181 kilometres south of Baghdad. A US army spokesman said 30 terrorists were killed in the fighting. A Mahdi Army source said two American vehicles were destroyed in the confrontation which began when Iraqi and Coalition forces stormed the home of a Mahdi Army official Kifah Al-Krety in Al-Jimhuriyah neighborhood in Diwaniyyah.