Eight American soldiers killed, al-Sader office in Najaf besieged

In one of the worst days for the American forces in Iraq, six American soldiers were killed and other injured in an ambush in the surrounding of Faluja area. This came hours after the killing of two others as missiles were fired on their base to the north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

The American soldiers who were on the board of armored vehicles were ambushed in al-Saqlaweyah village in the northern quarters of Falluja and as a result 8 were injured in addition to the 6 killed. News reports quoted a high ranking US official as saying that the losses might be much greater.

News reports also said that two American military vehicles were damaged when two explosives went off in al-Saqlaweyah. The American soldiers were seen transporting the wounded after cordoning the place, while military helicopters were seen in the skies in the area.

An American military statement announced that two American soldiers were killed and other 16 injured when mortar shelling fell on a base for the multi national force to the north of Baghdad. The statement said that one of the injured American soldiers is in a critical health condition.

One American soldier was injured together with other seven when one mortar shelling fell in al-Azameyah quarters in Baghdad.

Meantime, the Iraqi army forces are cordoning Najaf city and are calling for its inspection together with neighboring buildings.

Sources in Najaf said that al-Sader office asked the Iraqi forces on the need to get the consent of the Shiite clergy Ayatullah Ali al-Seistani as a precondition for permitting these forces to enter their office and inspect it.

The spokesman for al-Sader Ahmad al-Sheibani confirmed news on Iraqi police forces and the Iraqi national guards of al-Sader quarters in the downtown of the old city near the Haidari courtyard in preparation for its inspection.

Al- Sheibani explained that "these forces carry a memorandum of inspection issued by the governor of al-Sader and wants to inspect the office but the staff in the office refused this request." However, news reports said that a meeting which is the first of its kind in Najaf since the end of the fighting -- was held between Ali al-Seistani and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the governor of Najaf with the participation of Muqtada al-Sader.

Sheikh Ous al-Khafaji of al-Sader martyr office described the besiege of the Iraqi army of Muqtada al-Sader office in al-Najaf and the attempt to break into it as a new series in the chains of conspiracies to provoke al-Sader trend and create crises.