The fighting erupted amid attacks around the country, which is in the grip of a bloody sectarian conflict that kills around 100 people daily, and one day after police found the corpses of 51 murder victims in Baghdad.Gunbattles broke out in Diwaniyah after a joint Iraqi and US force tried to arrest a local Shiite militia leader accused of slaughtering Iraqi soldiers during a previous clash in August, Iraqi officials said Sunday.
A US tank was disabled by a barrage of rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) during the clashes, but the snatch squad returned and seized their suspect, identified by Iraqi sources as a local commander of the Mahdi Army militia.
"Iraqi army and Multi-National Division Baghdad (MND-B) soldiers killed approximately 30 terrorists and detained a high-value target after a terrorist attack today in Diwaniyah, south of Baghdad," a military statement said.
An Iraqi defence official named the suspect as Kifah al-Greiti, a commander in the Mahdi Army of Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr.
In August, Mahdi Army fighters killed more than 20 Iraqi soldiers in Diwaniyah, officials said at the time, accusing the militia of murdering in cold blood a dozen troops who ran out of ammunition during a gunbattle.
The attempt to arrest Greiti provoked a fierce response.
"An M1A2 Abrams tank was struck by multiple RPG rounds and was severely damaged. Iraqi army and MND-B soldiers engaged the enemy forces and killed approximately 30 of the terrorists," the US statement said.
"Reportedly, up to 10 enemy RPG teams attacked the combined forces, of which six teams were destroyed. MND-B and IA soldiers immediately secured the area so the damaged vehicle could be recovered," it said.
Eventually, the Iraqi soldiers captured their suspect, the military said, adding that thus far there were no reports of US or Iraqi troop casualties.
Medics at Diwaniyah's main hospital reported that seven
Later, US and Iraqi forces sealed off and entered the hospital, apparently hunting for wounded militiamen.
The ferocity of the fighting was a stark reminder that Iraqi and US forces still face a difficult political and military challenge if they are to master the powerful Shiite militias which control large parts of the country......