U.S. Major-General Jeffery Hammond, commander of U.S. forces in the capital, said his troops had taken control of the southern part of Sadr City over the past month to prevent rocket attacks on the Green Zone diplomatic and government compound.
Militia members have fired more than 700 rockets and missiles in Baghdad over the past month, many of them aimed from Sadr City at the Green Zone.
Hammond said the U.S. military had no plans to take control of the rest of Sadr City, adding the operation so far had put the Green Zone out of range of 107 mm rockets fired from territory still controlled by militants.
"I only went into Sadr City for the rockets," he told reporters, adding that U.S. forces were now building walls to protect the area they had occupied and bring in aid.
(Additional reporting by Dean Yates, Tim Cocks, Peter Graff and Aseel Kamil; Writing by Tim Cocks and Peter Graff)
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