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.

Witnesses said seven tanks backed by three low-flying helicopters returned to the area early yesterday, but left an hour later without incident.

The military said troops from the 1st Armoured Division were on patrol in Sadr City, the largest Shi'ite Muslim enclave in Baghdad, when they were ambushed about 8pm on Thursday.

Sheik Abdel-Hadi al-Daraji an aide to radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr blamed the clash on the Americans, saying they opened fire first.

Outside al-Sadr's office, about 10,000 Shi'ites gathered for Friday prayers and mourners placed two coffins of Iraqis they said died in the clash with the Americans.

Many of the worshippers carried portraits of al-Sadr and his father, a top religious leader who was killed in 1999 by suspected agents of Saddam Hussein.

The violence in Iraq was not confined to the capital.

An American patrol came under small arms fire near Beiji, about 120 miles north Baghdad, the US military said. The troops returned fire, critically wounding three of the attackers while four escaped, said Maj. Josslyn Aberle of the 4th Infantry Division.

American troops also detained 26 people and confiscated automatic weapons, a mortar, and other weapons in raids in the Tikrit region.

In Sadr city, al-Daraji denounced the American forces occupying his country.

"America claims to be the pioneer of freedom and democracy, but it resembles or indeed is a terror organisation," al-Daraji told the congregation, which chanted "no to America and yes to martyrdom" as the coffins arrived.

"The Americans may have forgotten that the real power rests with God and not with the wretched America," said Mr al-Daraji.

He accused the Americans of trying to drive a wedge between Iraq's majority Shi'ites and minority Sunnis and claimed the US-led coalition was responsible for "manufacturing crises and trying to create havoc".

But he stopped short of calling on Shi'ites to take up arms against the Americans and instead insisted "we want peace".

Al-Daraji, like some in the outdoor congregation, wore a white coffin shroud, a custom among pious Shi'ites to signal their readiness for martyrdom.

Al-Sadr lives in Najaf but Sadr City, teeming with thousands of young, unemployed Shi'ites, is his main power base. Before the prayers, al-Sadr's gunmen sealed off streets leading to his office, and hundreds of armed followers patrolled the area.

Emotions among the Shi'ites here were running high in the wake of the Thursday violence. "We want peace, but the Americans came last night thinking this is Fallujah," said Mahdi Abdel-Zahra, 32, referring to a city west of Baghdad where frequent clashes between Iraqis and Americans have taken place.

"They are wrong. We've never hurt the Americans in Sadr City."

The trouble in Sadr City started on Thursday when a bomber crashed a white Oldsmobile loaded with explosives into a police station, killing himself and nine other people and wounding as many as 45. Across town, gunmen one dressed as a Muslim cleric also shot and killed a Spanish military attache.