US troops bid to 'capture or kill' cleric

A 2,500-STRONG US force backed by tanks and artillery pushed to the outskirts of the Shi'ite city of Najaf last night for a showdown with radical Shi'ite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr.

Earlier, an American helicopter went down near Fallujah but there were no reported injuries to the crew.

At least 78 American troops were killed and 561 wounded in Iraq in the first 12 days of April, a senior army general said yesterday.