In Iraq, at least seven people have been killed in overnight clashes between US-led forces and Shia fighters in the Sadr City area of Baghdad. The fighting threatens a tenuous deal to end weeks of fighting. Meanwhile, the civilian toll continues to rise. Local civilians say three victims identified by the US as militants were in fact students asleep in their home.

Baghdad resident: “Three young men were sleeping inside their house. They are students, and their graduation party should be today. Their execution has taken place here. This is one man. Here is another. And the last is on the roof of the house. They are students. They are not gunmen or members of a militia. They are not wanted men.”

Scores of civilians have been killed in a series of intensified US strikes. Relief efforts have also been hampered after US missiles struck Sadr City’s main hospital earlier this month.