Sadr City has been scene of almost daily gun battles between Shia fighters and joint US-Iraqi foces [EPA]

The clashes in Sadr City early on Sunday came a day after a US rocket attack damaged a hospital in the stronghold of Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia leader.
 
Iraqi security officials and medical sources said another 17 people were also wounded in the fighting in Sadr City.
 
There was no immediate word from the US military.
 
Hundreds of people have been killed in the clashes which began on March 25 and followers of al-Sadr have accused the US military of killing civilians.
 
The US military charges that the fighters have been using civilians as human shields.

Marines' deaths

The deaths of the US soldiers occurred when their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device on Friday.

The attack marks one of the deadliest attacks against US troops in the mainly Sunni province in months, the military said on Sunday without specifying the exact location of the ambush.
 
The attack came 10 days after a similar ambush in Anbar in which two US marines were killed and three wounded.

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