Roadside bombs killed eight American soldiers in separate attacks today in Diyala province and Baghdad, and a car bomb claimed 30 more lives in a wholesale food market in a part of the Iraqi capital where sectarian tensions are on the rise.

Proposals for a Muslim force for Iraq moved forward today with the news that Pakistan had talked to Saudi officials and Yemen and Bahrain had offered some military help.

IRAQI police opened fire in downtown Baghdad yesterday after demonstrators demanding jobs stormed a police station and threw stones at officers, police said. At least one demonstrator was injured in the shooting.