Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq   

    BAGHDAD, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Eight people were killed and 61 others injured in overnight clashes in Baghdad eastern neighborhood of Sadr City, an Interior Ministry source said on Saturday.

    The clashes came after joint U.S. and Iraqi troops backed by aircraft conducted an operation in several parts of the sprawling slum of Sadr City late on Friday night to chase and arrest some wanted Sadr followers, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    During the operation, the troops came under heavy fire from gunmen prompting the troops to fire back. At least eight people were killed and 61 others wounded in the fierce fighting, the source said without providing information about the troops' casualties.

    Several Iraqi cities, including the capital, are witnessing tensions between militiamen loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadrand U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned that Sadr must disband his Mahdi Army militia or will be barred from taking part in the upcoming provincial elections.

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