Shi'ite Militia Destroy U.S. Tank in Baghdad

PHOTO CAPTION:
An Iraqi boy observes U.S. military helicopters flying over a burning U.S. tank after an attack by militants, in eastern Baghdad, August 16, 2004. Fighting raged between American soldiers and the Mehdi militia in a Shi'ite slum in Baghdad, where gunmen exploded a bomb under a U.S. tank and then set it on fire. The crew escaped with minor wounds, a U.S. army spokesman said. A U.S. helicopter gunship later strafed the street where the tank was hit. Militiamen responded with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani


BAGHDAD, Aug 16 (Reuters) 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.