Police: At least 5 killed in Baghdad blast
U.S. troops battle radical cleric's militia
 |  Iraqis inspect the site of an explosion Sunday at a crowded market in the center of Baghdad. |
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least five people were killed Sunday in an explosion at a crowded Baghdad market, police said, while coalition forces in Najaf stepped up operations against radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his banned Mehdi Army militia.
Among the dead was a child, police said. Thirteen people, including six police officers, were wounded, according to police. One of the wounded police officers was in critical condition, police said.
Police said the blast occurred in western Baghdad and was caused by an improvised explosive device.
In al-Sadr's stronghold Najaf, the U.S. military began a major offensive to take control of parts of the south-central Iraqi city.
The U.S. Army's 2nd Cavalry Sunday extended its territory about a mile beyond its base in Najaf, a stronghold of al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, military officials said.
U.S. forces killed more than 50 suspected members of al-Sadr's militia, captured two others and found weapons caches during the operation, according to military officials. They came under sporadic attacks from rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small arms, officials said.
Troops are still patrolling the parts of the city, which is under the 2nd Cavalry's control, mainly seeking the mortar positions that have targeted their base on a nightly basis.
Troops were still avoiding religious sites in the holy Shiite Muslim city.
A convoy in the coalition offensive was being attacked by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire, according to CNN's Jane Arraf, who was traveling with the convoy.
The aim of the offensive is to capture or kill members of al-Sadr's militia, to seize caches of rocket propelled grenades and small arms and to locate antiaircraft positions, coalition troops said.
Al-Sadr is wanted for questioning by an Iraqi court in connection with the killing of a rival cleric last year.
A newspaper supporting al-Sadr was shut down by coalition forces for allegedly inciting violence against coalition troops.
To the south, in Basra, British military spokesman Capt. Hisham Halawi said a grenade or homemade explosive was thrown at a coalition vehicle, wounding three soldiers.
Other developments
Coalition forces on Saturday arrested two high-ranking deputies of al-Sadr in a raid outside his headquarters in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, U.S. military sources said.U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has offered strong words of support for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "As a former secretary of defense, I think Donald Rumsfeld is the best secretary of defense the United States has ever had," the vice president said in a statement relayed to CNN through a spokesman Saturday. (Full story)CNN's Jane Arraf in Najaf contributed to this report.
