(Updates throughout) By Paul Tait BAGHDAD, Aug 8 (Reuters) - U.S. air strikes in Baghdad on Wednesday killed what the American military said were 30 militants suspected of transporting roadside bombs from Iran, but local authorities said civilians were among the dead. Hospital officials put the death toll in the area at 13. A U.S. military spokesman said there were no civilian casualties in the strikes by helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft in Sadr City, a sprawling Shi'ite slum in northeastern Baghdad. "There were women and children in the area when we conducted the operation, but none were killed in the air strike," Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver said. The manager of the Imam Ali Hospital in Sadr City said 10 people were killed, one of them a woman, and seven men wounded. Sadr City Hospital had received three bodies, its manager said, and four wounded, including a 13-year-old boy. Police said 11 people died, including women and children. The predawn raid came hours before a vehicle curfew was imposed in the city, ahead of a major Shi'ite ceremony that two years ago saw the deadliest single incident in Iraq's four-year conflict. More than 1,000 people were killed in a stampede. The U.S. military said its soldiers and Iraqi allies killed two armed men as they began raids in Sadr City, a stronghold of militia fighters loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Air strikes were called in when they saw "a large group of armed men" and a vehicle attempting to attack ground forces, a U.S. military statement said. "Eliminating these cells is important to bring down the level of violence against U.S. and Iraqi troops and the Iraqi people and taking weapons off the street," Garver said. The U.S. military has carried out a number of raids on Sadr City to target what it says are secret cells smuggling in explosively formed penetrators, powerful armour-piercing bombs, from neighbouring Iran to attack U.S. soldiers. A U.S. military spokesman said this week that more than 70 percent of attacks on U.S. forces in Baghdad in July were carried out by Shi'ite militias, some trained in Iran. The raid came days after the first meeting of a committee set up by Iran, the United States and Iraq to improve Iraq's deteriorating security. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was in Tehran on Wednesday to discuss security with Iranian officials. ANGRY MOURNERS Sadr City resident Abu Ammar said the U.S. raid targeted Amer al-Hassani, a local cleric and senior member of Sadr's office in the area. Three of his brothers were also detained. Hundreds of angry mourners later marched through Sadr City, some carrying coffins aloft. Reuters television pictures showed an attack helicopter circling above bullet-riddled cars and a house that showed damage from shrapnel and fire. The military statement said the group it raided was known for smuggling explosively formed penetrators, which account for a high proportion of U.S. casualties in Iraq. Tehran denies Washington's charge that it is fomenting violence in Iraq by arming and training Shi'ite militias and blames Iraq's unrelenting violence on the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. Baghdad's normally bustling streets were quieter on Wednesday as the curfew, imposed as pilgrims gathered for a major Shi'ite ceremony, began 17 hours earlier than expected. Iraqi security forces planned a heavy presence as thousands of Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims began to converge on the capital's northwestern Kadhimiya district and the shrine of Imam Musa Kadhim for Thursday's ceremony. Last year gunmen, some on rooftops, picked off pilgrims, killing about 20. Security officials said mobile telephones would be banned along routes taken by pilgrims and that children would not be allowed to take part. Iraqi officials have told pilgrims to stick to demarcated routes as they walk to Kadhimiya and take food and water only from authorised vendors. (Additional reporting by Peter Graff and Ross Colvin in Baghdad)
