Iraqi police say Baghdad fighting kills 6

The clashes put further strain on a weekend agreement tohalt nearly two months of fighting in the capital.

Police said gunmen fought U.S. and Iraqi forces in the eastBaghdad stronghold of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtadaal-Sadr. Five people were killed and 22 wounded overnight,police said, without giving details on the casualties.

Fighting also erupted in western Baghdad's Shula district,another bastion of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.

On Wednesday, heavy automatic weapon fire echoed throughthe streets of Shula as U.S. Apache attack helicopters hoveredoverhead. Shops were closed and residents stayed home.

Police said one person had been killed and six wounded inthe Shula fighting, which began on Tuesday.

A spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad, Lieutenant-ColonelSteven Stover, earlier said Tuesday had been quieter in SadrCity compared to previous days. He could not be immediatelyreached for comment on the latest fighting.

Iraq's ruling Shi'ite alliance and Sadr's oppositionmovement in parliament reached an agreement on Saturday to endfighting in Sadr City that has killed hundreds of people.

A senior political aide to Sadr has urged patience with thetruce, saying it might take time to filter down.

It is not clear how much control Sadr has over some of thetens of thousands of gunmen who profess allegiance to him.

Fighting flared in late March when Prime Minister Nurial-Maliki ordered a crackdown against Shi'ite militias inBaghdad and the southern city of Basra.

(Reporting by Waleed Ibrahim and Tim Cocks, editing byKeith Weir)