US soldiers killed in Iraqi ambush

TWO US soldiers were killed and four wounded in an ambush in the same Baghdad neighbourhood where hours earlier a suicide car bomb killed 10 people, including the driver.

Shi'ite Muslims denied there was an ambush and said fighters loyal to a radical Shi'ite cleric battled American troops on Thursday night as the Americans approached their leader's headquarters.

Up to two Iraqis died in the fighting and seven were wounded, according to various Iraqi reports.