Baghdad, 12 March (AKI) - The Shia imam Moqtada al-Sadr has reportedly travelled to the holy city of Qom in Iran to further his Islamic studies.

Iraqi sources from the holy city of Najaf revealed the move by the radical cleric to the Arab daily, al-Sharq al-Awsat.

This could be why the radical leader has not been seen in public for around eight months.

But the news came as the US claimed to have killed a number of militants linked to al-Sadr's Mehdi Army in the mainly-Shia Muslim city of Kut in southern Iraq.

Local medics said at least 17 people were killed, including five children, during gun battles between troops and Mehdi Army militia on Tuesday.

Police said the fighting in Kut was located in three areas considered to be strongholds of the Mehdi Army which supports Moqtada al-Sadr.

In the last few days some of al-Sadr's supporters have been arrested not only in Najaf but also in Karbala and in Samawa.

Because of his silence and the decision to extend his truce with US troops, some of his supporters are understood to have left his Shia group to form new radical groups.

Iraq has recorded an increase in violence since January, including suicide and car bombings, despite a sharp overall decline in attacks in the past eight months, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

The rise in violence was partly as a result of recent US-led offensives against Islamist militants, including al-Qaeda in Iraq.

US officials say attacks have dropped more than 60 percent because of the surge in American forces, the emergence of Sunnis allied with the US against al-Qaeda, improvements in the Iraqi army and a ceasefire declaration by al-Sadr.