Plane fires on insurgents planting bomb

Strong explosions have been heard in Baghdad’s north-eastern Shiite district of Sadr City this morning following a US warplane blasted three people who were planting a roadside bomb, US officials and witnesses said.

Residents reported sporadic skirmishes between US troops and Shiite militiamen in the narrow and densely populated streets of the district, a stronghold of militant cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.