BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen launched numerous attacks on U.S. troops in the Baghdad bastion of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr overnight, the U.S. military said on Tuesday, in a sign that many militia are ignoring a pact to halt fighting.
Iraqi police said 11 people had been killed and 20 woundedin fighting during the night in the Sadr City slum in easternBaghdad. They gave no details on the casualties.
A spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad, Lieutenant-ColonelSteven Stover, said troops killed at least three gunmen inseparate incidents after being attacked multiple times.
Iraq's ruling Shi'ite alliance and Sadr's oppositionmovement in parliament reached an agreement on Saturday to endseven weeks of fighting in Sadr City that has killed hundredsof people. The two sides formally signed the agreement onMonday.
But it has long been unclear how much control theanti-American Sadr has over some of the tens of thousands ofgunmen who profess allegiance to him.
The fighting was triggered when Prime Minister Nurial-Maliki ordered an operation against Shi'ite militias in thesouthern city of Basra in late March.
The offensive sparked fierce resistance from Sadr's MehdiArmy militia. While fighting with security forces eased inBasra within a week, clashes with gunmen quickly spread to SadrCity.
(Reporting by Tim Cocks; Writing by Dean Yates; Editing byGiles Elgood)
