At least 11 people were killed and 32 other were wounded in the latest clashes between Shiite militiamen and US and Iraqi forces. The two sides engaged in combat during the night in Sadr City, a district of 2.5 million people in east Baghdad. The number of casualties was provided by AFP, which quoted a local medical official.

There were four old men, two women and a child among the dead according to the official from the hospital in Sadr City, a town controlled by the Mahdi Army militia, loyal to the anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

There were also women and children among those wounded in the military clashes.

The fighting broke out late Thursday and ended in the early hours of Friday, witnesses said.

The clashes between the Iraqi and US forces and the militants belonging to the Mahdi Army militia grew in number and intensity after Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on militants in the southern city of Basra. The order was given nearly a month ago, on March 25, and the operation has the main purpose of disarming the militants.

The attack on Basra set off a wave of violence in Shiite regions across the Middle Eastern country, especially in Sadr City.

The death toll since the crackdown order was given has reached 383 in Sadr City alone, AFP reported.