BAGHDAD, July 27, SPA -- Shiite militiamen battled with U.S. and Iraqi troops Friday in the holy city of Karbala, and the fighting left nine people dead and nearly two dozenwounded, local officials said. Separately, the U.S. military said another Americansoldier was killed in fighting, raising to eight the numberof troop deaths reported over the past two days, the Associated Press reported. The fighting in Karbala, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, broke out as the joint U.S.-Iraqi force conducted a pre-dawn raid on the house of a leader of the Mahdi Army militia, which is loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtadaal-Sadr, prompting the militia fighters to open fire,according to a police officer and a local council member. The militia leader Razzaq al-Ardhi and his brother werearrested in the clashes, which lasted nearly two hours, theofficials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information. --SPA www.spa.gov.sa/470708