Al-Sader calls on his supporters to withdraw from al-Najaf; some 16 Iraqis were killed including 3 American soldiers
One American military source said that three American soldiers were killed and other 25 injured including 8 soldiers in a bombardment that targeted a military base in Balad down to the north of Baghdad on Wednesday.
An American military statement said that the soldiers in the base which is called " Anakonda" retaliated to the source of the bombardment, but gave no mention to casualties in the lines of the attackers.
Also on Wednesday, some 13 persons were killed at least in a series of attacks in Iraq. Four foreigners and five Iraqis were killed and other 10 injured in a booby trapped car explosion in the downtown of al-Ramadi to the west of Baghdad. No information was given on the nationality of those foreigners.
In al-Madaen to the east of Baghdad, the police said 3 Iraqis were killed and 6 police cars were burnt in attack launched by unidentified gunmen at their centers.
In a second attack within 24 hours, attackers hit the oil pipelines in al-Basra and heavy losses were inflicted as a result.
The Iraqi oil ministry announce halting oil exports because of attacks that targeted two key oil pipelines in al-Basra. In the north unidentified persons killed the chairman of the security department of the north oil company in Karkouk Ghazi al-Talibani, where oil exports were also halted because of new attacks.
In al-Najaf, the Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sader asked his supporters, non residents in al-Najaf to leave the city and return back to their governorates in order to follow up their daily life. The spokesman for al-Sader Qeis al-Khaz'ali said that converting al-Sader into a political action does not mean he aspires a political position.
Meantime, unidentified group released a Lebanese hostage who has been held in Iraq since one month called Habib Khalil Sammour. Lebanese security sources said that Sammour is in a good health condition and he was released without a ransom to be demanded by his kidnappers. His family headed for Jordan to meet with him.
Meantime, the US under defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz and his British counterpart Keven Tebet held talks on Wednesday in Baghdad with several Iraqi officials.
The two officials discussed with the Iraqi prime minister Eyadd Allawi political, security and economic issues as well as future relations after transferring the authority to the Iraqis on June 30.
The American forces, on the other hand, announced it will hand the civil part of Baghdad airport to the Iraqis in Gherra in July while it will hand over the military part by the fall of the mid of August.