BAGHDAD, April 30 (Reuters) - April proved the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq in half a year, with the reported deaths of two more soldiers on Wedensday bringing the month's toll to 46. Two hospitals in Sadr City, the Shi'ite slum that has been the focus of fighting in the capital, said 421 Iraqis had been killed and more than 2,400 wounded there since late March. Thirty-four bodies and 112 wounded victims were brought to the two Sadr City hospitals in the last 24 hours, after battles in the slum that saw fighters attack U.S. forces under the cover of blinding dust storms. The U.S. death toll is the highest since September, when 65 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq according to figures compiled by icasualties.org, an independent Website that tracks military deaths, but is still far lower than a year ago. In April last year 104 U.S. service members were killed in Iraq. In a statement, the U.S. military said gunmen killed one soldier in northwestern Baghdad on Tuesday. The second soldier was killed in a roadside bomb attack on his vehicle, also in the northwestern part of the Iraqi capital on Tuesday. Around half the U.S. troop deaths in Iraq this month have been in Baghdad, including several killed by rocket and mortar fire from the eastern Baghdad stronghold of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. U.S. and Iraqi forces have been fighting battles against Shi'ite gunmen in and around the Sadr City bastion for weeks. American forces said they killed 34 militiamen in Sadr City on Tuesday in a series of clashes including one street battle that raged for four hours. U.S. and Iraqi forces have been battling Shi'ite militiamen in Sadr City and other Shi'ite parts of Baghdad for a month, since Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched a crackdown on the militia in the southern city of Basra. After early setbacks, the Basra offensive appears to have been a success, driving militia members from the streets. But in Baghdad the militia still control Sadr City and other areas. Sunni Arab areas of Baghdad, where U.S. forces fought their heaviest battles a year ago, remain quieter. Al Qaeda has largely been pushed out of Baghdad and regrouped in provinces north of the city. (Reporting by Dean Yates and Aseel Kami; writing by Dean Yates and Peter Graff, editing by Ralph Boulton)
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih speaks during an interview with Reuters in Baghdad April 28, 2008. Iraq's government will pursue its war on militias but must avoid isolating the movement ...
