Four U.S. soldiers die in intense fighting

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Militants believed to be Shiite Muslims pounded Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone and U.S. and Iraqi outposts with rocket or mortar fire Monday, killing at least four American soldiers in some of the fiercest attacks in weeks.

The U.S. military said it had used attack helicopters and tanks to repel a wave of assaults in the past two days, killing at least 45 gunmen.

Scores of people were injured in the exchanges, many of them bystanders, according to Iraqi police and hospital officials.

The surge in fighting came despite an appeal by influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to end the bloodletting, which has claimed hundreds of lives since the government began a crackdown against Shiite militiamen last month.

Al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia is the main target of the crackdown, has threatened “open war” against U.S.-led forces in Iraq. But in a message to his followers Friday, the cleric urged an end to the fighting between Iraqis.

The latest attacks began Sunday, under the cover of a blinding sandstorm, which grounded U.S. helicopters that hunt down the militants. In one incident that evening, the military said U.S. soldiers used tank and small-arms fire to repel a large group of fighters who swarmed a joint U.S.-Iraqi checkpoint.

The attacks continued Monday as the heavy blanket of dust that had enveloped the capital began to dissipate.

The four U.S. soldiers were killed by rocket or mortar fire Monday at two outposts, on the east and west sides of the Tigris River, the military said. The attacks also caused a number of injuries.

Forty-four U.S. troops have died in Iraq in April, according to iCasualties.org, which tracks military fatalities, more than any month since September.