BAGHDAD, March 25 (Reuters) - Fighting erupted between followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and supporters of a rival Shi'ite faction in several Baghdad neighbourhoods on Tuesday, police said.

The fighting was taking place in several neighbourhoods of Sadr City, the sprawling slum of about two million people that is Sadr's main stronghold, they said.

Police said Mehdi Army fighters loyal to Sadr were battling gunmen from the Badr Organisation, the armed wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC). The Sadrists and SIIC represent the two biggest Shi'ite political blocs in parliament.

Police said the fighting had forced them to leave the Habibiya and Orfaly neighbourhoods of Sadr City, along with a third neighbourhood close to the slum, al-Maamel.

A Reuters witness in Sadr City reporting seeing a long column of U.S. Stryker armoured vehicles entering the area.

(Writing by Ross Colvin)

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