US, Iraqi troops in fresh offensive

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In Baghdad, four battalions of Iraqi troops and three battalions of police backed by US forces cordoned off areas of western Baghdad late on Sunday and searched "suspected terrorist locations", a US military statement said.

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Elsewhere, a car bomber blew himself up near a US convoy and police station in Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad, wounding three US soldiers and two Iraqi policemen, military spokesman Major Richard Goldenberg said.

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Al-Sadr said in a television interview aired on Sunday that the talks were aimed at settling the feud between the AMS and the Badr Bridges.

He resurfaced this week after keeping a lower profile following fierce battles last year in the southern holy city of Najaf and Baghdad's impoverished Sadr City between his supporters and US forces.

al Jazeera