Troops and rebels clash in Baghdad

US and Iraqi forces clashed with insurgents on a main Baghdad thoroughfare today, the Interior Ministry said.

At least one explosion could be heard across the Iraqi capital, but there was no immediate word on casualties.

The fighting broke out on Haifa street, an insurgent enclave that has been the scene of fierce fighting recently, said ministry spokesman Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman.

Elsewhere, a US warplane struck a rocket launcher mounted on the back of a vehicle in the Baghdad slum of Sadr city, destroying the vehicle but igniting several secondary explosions, the US military said.

“The vehicle was fired on and destroyed in an open area away from buildings and other people,” said Capt. Brian O’Malley of the Army’s 1st Brigade Combat Team.

Maithem Mahmoud of the al-Sadr General Hospital said one man was killed and a woman injured.