A fierce battle between US troops and Shiite militants killed 29 people in Baghdad including two Iraqis working for foreign media, while another four people died elsewhere, officials said. The fighting broke out early in the day after a barrage of mortar shells slammed into the eastern Al Amin neighbourhood of Baghdad, security officials said, adding that shortly afterwards the US forces clashed with Mahdi Army militants. Baghdad hospitals medics said they had received 13 bodies from the battle, while security officials said the toll could be higher.An Iraqi photographer and his driver working for Reuters were among the dead, witnesses and the company said. They were killed when a rocket or shell hit a minibus carrying wounded Iraqis from the neighbourhood, which they were filming. Witnesses claimed a US helicopter had fired the missile, although a Reuters statement said that a mortar shell by militants might be the cause.