US helicopter shot down as bloody clashes rage

INSURGENTS loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr battled fiercely with US and Iraqi forces in the holy city of Najaf yesterday in fighting that killed one US soldier, seven Iraqi civilians and seven militants.

A US helicopter was shot down.

Bloodshed quickly spread to other Shi'te areas, with each side blaming the other in a profound threat to a shaky two-month-old truce. Al-Sadr's men also fought with US troops in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Sadr City, wounding seven Americans; shot at government offices in the southern city of Amarah; and clashed with British forces in Basra, where one militant was killed after troops loyal to Sadr declared a "jihad" on British forces.