Iraq ? Errant mortar shells slammed into houses and a funeral tent Wednesday, leaving three children among the dead during clashes in a Shiite militia stronghold under siege by American and Iraqi forces on the fifth anniversary of the U.S. capture of the capital.

The fighting came as the U.S. military announced the deaths of five more soldiers. That raised the number of American troop deaths to 17 since Sunday.

Many Iraqis said hopes that followed the U.S.-led ouster of Saddam Hussein have been quashed.

“On this day five years ago we were dreaming of a bright future, but now we know that our dream has turned into a long nightmare,” said Khalid Ibrahim, a 45-year-old teacher from the mainly Sunni area of Azamiyah.

In many ways, Baghdad resembles more of a war zone than it did on April 9, 2003, when American troops stormed into the capital and pulled down a bronze statue of Saddam with the help of dozens of Iraqis.

The city of some 6 million people has largely been carved up along sectarian lines, a patchwork of neighborhoods surrounded by 10-foot-high concrete walls and dotted with checkpoints.