A senior aide of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was shot dead by U.S. soldiers during a raid on his house in south of Baghdad on Wednesday, U.S. military and Sadr's office said.

Sahib al-Ameri, head of Shahid Allah foundation for Sadr movement, was gunned down early in the morning when U.S. and Iraqi forces jointly stormed his house in a town near the holy Shiite city of Najaf, an official of Sadr's office said.

Meanwhile, a U.S. military statement also said confirmed the killing of al-Ameri, saying that the slain was a "suspected improvised explosive device facilitator and cell leader."

It said that the U.S. and Iraqi soldiers entered the suspect's house, who escaped to the roof, but was gunned down by a U.S. soldier after he took an assault rifle and turned his weapon toward an Iraqi soldier.

"The Coalition Soldier observed the man's hostile intent against the Iraqi soldier and shot the man, neutralizing the threat and resulting in his death," the statement explained.

Source: Xinhua