A Saturday news release from Baghdad shows that soldiers from Fort Carson’s 3rd Brigade Combat are still seeing plenrty of fighting as they try to contain Shiite militants in Sadr City.

Pictures shot by the Air Force show soldiers from the 3rd Special Troops Battalion pulling guard duty as other members of the brigade erect concrete barriers on the fringes of the Shiite enclave run by cleric Muqtada Al Sadr. The walls have been used with success elsewhere. Too tall to climb and too heavy to easily move, the 14-foot tall barriers limit insurgent movement by containing them in their neighborhood.

The walls will allow the brigade to better control who is coming and going from Sadr City and help them clamp down on weapons, including rockets, that have been smuggled there.

But the Shiite Militias around Sadr City are still fighting, breaking months of calm in reaction to an Iraqi government crack down on militant groups. The mission to install the barriers was met w2ith heavy fighting, commanders in Baghdad said.

Here’s what military leaders said in a news release:

“Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldiers, in a combined operation with Iraqi Army soldiers, killed several criminals in eastern Baghdad after their convoy was attacked by multiple road side bombs, and small-arms fire from adjacent high rise buildings April 11.
At approximately 9 p.m., soldiers from 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division soldiers, supporting Iraqi Army soldiers from the 42nd Brigade, 11th IA Div., killed two criminal snipers, two criminals firing rocket propelled grenades, and multiple others from a nearby building where soldiers were taking RPG and machine gun fire.
At the same time, soldiers from 1-68 were transporting barriers, in support of Iraqi Army soldiers establishing a checkpoint, when two vehicles in the convoy were damaged when they struck more than six improvised explosive devices. Small-arms fire, including sniper fire, machine-gun fire and RPGs were fired from buildings overlooking the road. Iraqi Army soldiers and 1-68 soldiers immediately returned fire with 7.62mm and 25mm small arms, killing at least four Special Groups members.
Secondary explosions were observed from the building immediately after, possibly indicating arms and munitions were stored in the building.”
 

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