BAGHDAD, Oct. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Sunni insurgents clashed with Iraqi police and Shiite militia near Baghdad on Thursday and now the death toll has risen to 45, an Interior Ministry source said.

   "So far, 23 from (Shiite militia) Mehdi Army were killed and 11 were injured. Two policemen were killed and five were injured. For the part of the insurgents, 20 were killed and twenty-nine were captured," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

   "The clash erupted between Sunni militants and a joint force of police and the Mehdi Army who headed to Nehrawan area east of Baghdad to save a kidnapped member of the Mehdi Army," the source said earlier.

   The Mehdi Army are militia loyal to the radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

   In the initial report, two policemen and 17 Mehdi fighters were killed and five other policemen and 12 Mehdi fighters wounded.   Enditem