BAGHDAD — Hospital officials say overnight clashes between U.S. and Iraqi forces and Shiite militants in Baghdad's embattled Sadr City district killed seven people.

The U.S. military confirms that fighting broke out late Thursday in the sprawling district of 2.5 million people. Sadr City is a stronghold of the Mahdi Army of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Officials at two local hospitals, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the dead included two women. The clashes left 45 wounded, they said.

Witnesses say clashes ended in the early hours today. U.S. helicopter gunships reportedly struck targets in Sadr City.

The district has been the scene of daily combat between militants and Iraqi government and U.S. troops for the past month.

NAGANO, Japan — Riot police, protesters and Chinese well-wishers converged on Nagano in the mountains of central Japan today as the embattled Beijing Olympic torch arrived on one of its final international stops before moving on to China.Dozens of protesters surrounded by hundreds of riot police marched through the city, which hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics, carrying Tibetan flags and banners saying "Stop the Torch" as the flame arrived. Police helicopters buzzed in the air.Police arrested a man claiming to be a monk for allegedly possessing a knife at the starting point of Saturday's torch relay, a local police official said on condition of anonymity, citing policy. He was carrying a statement saying "I protest the torch relay," Kyodo News Agency said.The torch has been met with protests and intense security at many of its stops on its worldwide journey, and Japan was gearing up for yet another game of cat-and-mouse between police and demonstrators demanding better human rights in China and condemning Beijing's crackdown on Tibetan protests last month.Widespread protests along the torch's international route and reports of foiled terrorist plots in China suggest a real possibility for violence during the Aug. 8-24 Beijing games, the head of Interpol said today.