U.S. forces say kill 14 militants in Baghdad

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces have killed 14 militants in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City, a stronghold of gunmen loyal to anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the military said on Friday.

The gunmen were killed in several clashes on Thursday, the military said in a statement.

It said air strikes and tanks were used to attack militiamen attempting to launch rockets from the slum or shoot at U.S. troops on patrol. Hospitals in Sadr City said they had received four bodies and 51 wounded. Among the wounded were children.

Fighting has raged in Baghdad since Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on militias in late March.

Several hundred people have been killed in fighting that shows no sign of easing. Aid workers have warned of a looming humanitarian crisis in the slum, home to 2 million people.

Maliki, himself a Shi'ite, says the crackdown aims to disarm militias but Sadr's followers see it as an attempt by his U.S.-backed government to sideline the cleric's mass movement before local elections in October.

Sadr, who has a strong following among dispossessed Shi'ites, last month threatened to scrap a truce he imposed on his Mehdi Army in August. A few weeks later he urged his men to observe it, leaving many confused about his true intentions.

(Reporting by Tim Cocks)