BAGHDAD, May 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Over 30 Iraqis were killed in the continuing wave of violence on Sunday as insurgents launched more bomb attacks and US-led coalition forces stepped up their operations against radical Shiite militias.

 
A huge explosion rocked a crowded market in Al Bayaa district in the southern suburb of Baghdad early Sunday.(Xinhua/AFP Photo)

    A huge explosion rocked a crowded market in Al Bayaa district in the southern suburb of Baghdad early Sunday, killing at least 4 civilians and 3 policemen, witnesses said. Thirteen more people were injured in the blast.

    The witnesses said a US military convoy had passed nearby shortly before the explosion.

    In the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in Baghdad, US troops and the Mehdi Army militia of rebel Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadrclashed Sunday, one day after soldiers arrested a top aide to al-Sadr in the district.

    Small-arms fire broke out near a police station at an entrance to the sprawling suburb, witnesses said.

    Clashes erupted on Saturday between US troops and the militiamen when 20 US tanks cordoned off the area around al-Sadr's office and detained Amer al-Husseini.

    Witnesses said the militiamen fired several mortar rounds at a government building and crossfired with American soldiers indifferent parts of the neighborhood.

    Later, US military spokesman Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt confirmed that the US forces killed 19 Iraqi insurgents in four separate incidents in Baghdad.

    Kimmitt did not specify the kind of violence in the four incidents, but said nine others, including three policemen, were also killed and 17 others were wounded.

    In the southern city of Basra, three British soldiers were injured in a blast which took place in the city center Sunday morning, according to a British spokesman.

    The spokesman also said that there were another two clashes inthe southern port city, but no considerable casualties were caused.In Najaf, where al-Sadr himself was holed up, a new provincial governor appointed by the US-led coalition will reportedly jointribal and religious leaders to seek an end to the confrontation.US civil administrator of Iraq Paul Bremer appointed Adnan al-Zorfi as the new governor of Najaf province Thursday to replace theformer leader who had fled the city to Iran at the beginning of theconflicts last month.

    Al-Sadr, wanted by the authorities for the alleged murder of another cleric, launched a revolt against US-led forces in Iraq one month ago.

    In another development, one US soldier was killed and another wounded in a mortar attack on a military base in the northern Iraqicity of Mosul on Saturday, a US military statement said on Sunday.Over 760 US soldiers have died since the US-led invasion of Iraq started last spring, with over 560 of them killed in combat incidents. Enditem