Violence continues to escalate in Iraq. Two U.S. soldiers have been killed in Baghdad, the military confirmed.

The two troopers died in separate incidents. One of them lost his life when a roadside bomb hit the vehicle he was in, while the other was killed in a fire exchange in the northern parts of Baghdad.

The deaths of the two soldiers brought the death toll of U.S. troops killed in Iraq to 46 this moth, making April 2008 the worst month since September 2007.

However, the violence continues as U.S. and Iraqi forces are battling militants loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr on Baghdad’s streets.

The fighting between the two sides intensified after the Shia militiamen attacked the position of the coalition forces during a sandstorm.

The Sadr City area battle ended with 28 dead militants and four dead US soldiers.

"We are seeing larger groups of militants actually aggressively attacking Iraqi and US security forces," said Lt Col Steve Stover, a military spokesman for American troops in Baghdad.

"We've seen more of the brazen attacks in the daytime recently," he added.

The fighting also escalated after Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shiite anti-US cleric, declined the terms of the Iraqi government for lifting a crackdown against his Mahdi Army militia.

According to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the military operations against the militants in Baghdad will end only when they hand in all heavy and medium weapons, CNN reported. Other conditions include: handing over wanted people and keeping out of the affairs of Iraqi security forces, government institutions and reconstruction projects.