US military says 49 militants killed in Sadr City

US ground forces and attack helicopters killed an estimated 49 militants during a raid on Baghdad's Sadr City Shiite enclave to capture a militia chief who lead a kidnapping ring, the dead included women and children. The military said ground forces were unaware of any civilians killed in the Sadr City strike, and the vast difference in reported death tolls could not immediately be reconciled.

US troops returned fire under sustained attack from automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades from nearby buildings as they began raiding a series of structures in the district, according to a statement. It said 33 militants were killed in the fire fight. Ground forces then called in airstrikes, which killed six more militants.

In the meantime the American Jewish General Petreaus lets Al Sadr and his Zionist death squads kill Iraq's intelligentsia for Israel. Petreaus sits in Saddam's palace, surrounded by Camp Victory, awaiting to emerge as a presidential candidate. Killing a bunch of innocents puts US troops at risk.