BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. and Iraqi forces staged raids in Baghdad’s main Shiite militant stronghold today as part of politically sensitive forays into areas loyal to the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Southwest of the capital, three American soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb.

Troops have held back on broad sweeps through the teeming Sadr City slums since a major security operation began earlier this month, targeting militant factions and sectarian death squads that have ruled Baghdad’s streets.

Al-Sadr withdrew his powerful Mahdi Army militia from checkpoints and bases under intense government pressure to let the house-to-house security sweeps move ahead. But Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and others have opposed extensive U.S.-led patrols through Sadr City, fearing a violent backlash could derail the security effort.

The pre-dawn raids appeared to highlight a strategy of pinpoint strikes in Sadr City rather than the flood of soldiers sent into some Sunni districts.

At least 16 people were arrested after U.S.-Iraqi commandos - using concussion grenades - stormed six homes, police said.

The U.S. military said the raids targeted "the leadership of several rogue" Mahdi Army cells that "direct and perpetrate sectarian murder" -an apparent reference to Shiite gangs accused of carrying out execution-style slayings and torture on Sunnis.

The three soldiers killed today, assigned to a unit based in the capital, were killed by an improvised explosive device, a makeshift mine that has caused the majority of deaths among U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Labed Abbawi, of Iraq’s Foreign Ministry, said envoys from the West and Islamic nations - including Iran, Syria and the United States - are expected to attend a conference next month on efforts to stabilize Iraq.

The meeting, planned for mid-March in the Iraqi capital, is an attempt by the U.S.-backed government to seek greater regional assistance in fighting insurgents and addressing tensions between Iraq’s majority Shiite Muslims and Sunnis.

In Washington, White House Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino said the U.S. "would attend" if invited. Abbawi said the United States was among those asked to take part. Perino said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would be "a logical attendee" but said she could not announce anything on Rice’s behalf.

The No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, said today that those execution-style killings had fallen sharply in Baghdad since the security crackdown began.

Figures compiled by The Associated Press from police reports show that the number of bullet-riddled bodies found in the streets this month totaled 628 as of yesterday. That was down from 1,079 in January and 1,379 in December.

Odierno declined to comment on whether there were special tactics for Sadr City. "We will go after anyone who we feel is working against the government of Iraq," he said.

"We will keep at this until the people feel safe," Odierno added.

But Baghdad resident Muhand Mihbas, whose brother and six cousins were taken in the sweeps, said the crackdown was making his family uneasy.

"My sons and wife were very terrified," he complained. "Does the security plan mean arresting innocent people and scaring civilians?"

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