US soldier killed in Najaf clashes

A US soldier was killed during clashes with radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf, the US military said Friday.

The soldier, from a special forces unit, was killed during a raid Thursday on a school where militiamen loyal to Sadr have been fighting US and Iraqi forces for the past nine days, the military said.

US troops dropped a 225-kg bomb on buildings at Sadr's house during the raid.

The Mehdi Army has been fighting multinational forces in and around Najaf, 160 south of Baghdad, since Aug. 5 in a resurgence ofa spring uprising that lasted about two months which was followed by a series of truces.

Source: Xinhua