US air strikes in a poor, Shi?ite stronghold of Baghdad early yesterday killed two toddlers, Reuters witnesses said, in clashes that Iraqi police said left a total of 13 dead and 69 wounded.

The US military said in a statement the operation in Sadr City targeted criminals believed to be responsible for kidnapping US soldiers in May this year and November 2006.

The bodies of the toddlers, one in a nappy, lay on blankets in the morgue of Imam Ali hospital in Sadr City where doctors tended to wounded men, some elderly, and boys. In a house where one of the children lived, a man pointed to bloodstained mattresses and blood-splattered pillows, choking back tears as he held up a photo of one of the dead.

Hundreds of Sadr City residents, wailing and chanting ?There is no God but Allah?, carried wooden coffins through the streets. ?We don?t have any confirmation yet of any civilians killed. When we engage hostile threats we make every effort to protect innocent civilians?, said US military spokesman Major Winfield Danielson.

The district is the main stronghold in Baghdad for the Mehdi Army, a Shi?ite militia loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and has seen many clashes between US forces and militants. Moqtada al-Sadr froze the activities of the Mehdi Army at the end of August for six months after 52 were killed in gun battles between rival Shi?ite militias in the city of Kerbala.

Three US soldiers were kidnapped south of Baghdad in May. The body of one was found later that month but the other two are classed as missing and captured. Sunni Arab Islamists from al Qaeda in Iraq had claimed responsibility for the abductions.

A US army translator of Iraqi descent, was kidnapped in Baghdad on October 23 last year when he went to visit relatives. His family said he was taken by the members of the Mehdi Army.

?Barbaric?

?Upon arrival, the ground force began to clear a series of buildings in the target area when they were engaged by machinegun fire and rocket-propelled grenades from adjacent structures?, the US military said in a statement. ?Supporting aircraft was called in to suppress the enemy fire, killing an estimated six criminals?, it said.

Abdul-Mehdi al-Muteyri, a senior Sadr official, called the attack ?simply barbaric?. ?Most of those killed and wounded were women, children and elderly men which shows the indiscriminate monstrosity of the attacks on this crowded area?, he told Reuters. Asked if the latest attack would change the status of their freeze on Mehdi Army operations, he said: ?Only (Moqtada al-Sadr) has the right to take such a decision.?

The US commander for Baghdad, Major-General Joseph Fil, said in September that while security was getting better in some parts of Baghdad following a US crackdown, areas such as Sadr city were likely to continue to see higher violence.

Clouds of black smoke rose from Sadr City early on Sunday as sirens wailed, heavy gunfire echoed and US helicopters circled overhead, Reuters television footage showed. ?We were waking in the morning and all of a sudden rockets landed in the house and the children were screaming?, said a woman outside the house.

Sattar RAHEEM

Aseel KAMI