Twofold Operation Seals Sadr City

"Abu Deraa is merely a slave and a simple person in the Sadr movement, and he could not utter such words, for he is one of the dear fighters of the Mahdi Army and the Sadr movement," said Mohammed al-Kaabi, who works in Sadr's office in the city of Najaf.

[Early Monday, a bomb ripped through a Sadr City market where Iraqi Shiites were lined up for day labor jobs, killing at least 31 people and wounding more than 50, the Associated Press reported, citing police officials.]

On Sunday, the U.S. military said it launched a surprise attack on insurgents who were gathering in two places to ambush coalition forces near the city of Balad, about 50 miles north of Baghdad, killing about 17 guerrillas. Local officials and residents, who put the number of dead at 11, said the group had gathered to defend the Sunni hamlet of Duluiyah, about four miles across the Tigris River from Balad, fearing that it was going to be attacked.

The two towns were the site of intense Shiite-Sunni strife earlier this month, after Sunni insurgents kidnapped and beheaded 17 Shiite laborers in Duluiyah. Shiite leaders in Balad responded by asking for protection from the Mahdi Army, touching off a four-day sectarian rampage that left as many as 100 people dead. Both towns have since been bracing for reprisals.

Duluiyah police Maj. Ahmed Aziz said a group of armed men had gathered late Saturday to defend the town after receiving news that commandos from Iraq's Interior Ministry -- which has been accused of harboring Shiite death squads -- were preparing an assault. He said the men were "planning to ambush the commandos if they launched such an attack," but instead were struck by three missiles fired by U.S. jets.

Ali Kareem, a 35-year-old farmer whose brother was killed in the strike, said groups were positioned around the town to repel an expected offensive by U.S. forces and Interior Ministry commandos. He said their operations were coordinated with local police.

"We told the police that we do not need you with us in this operation, and we asked them to remain at their police station to defend the city in case the Interior commandos came and wanted to take over the city," Kareem said. "So we would be the first line of defense, and the police would be the second line of defense inside the city.

"We would not let them take us as prisoners. Either they kill us or we kill them."

The U.S. military statement said coalition forces were moving "toward their objective" early Sunday when they "encountered terrorist activity on two separate occasions along their route." The statement, which did not specify the purpose of the operation, said aircraft "engaged the targets with precision fire," killing four guerrillas in the first strike and about 13 more in subsequent attacks.

Elsewhere, 17 police trainees and translators reportedly were killed when gunmen ambushed their bus near the southern city of Basra, local authorities said. Baghdad police said 25 bodies, many bearing signs of torture, were found across the capital Sunday morning. And at least 25 more people were killed in shootings, bombings and other violence in Iraq on Sunday, according to police, security officials and wire services.

Officials at state television station al-Iraqiya said that one of the station's sports broadcasters, Naqsheen Hamma Rasheed, was killed along with her driver Sunday morning while headed to work in Baghdad. She was the second sportscaster from the station to be slain in the past five months.

Falah al-Fadhly, the station's managing editor for news, said Rasheed, a Kurd, was shot about 9:30 as she was getting out of the car at the station, which is across the street from the Justice Ministry. The gunmen fled, he said.

Special correspondents Saad Sarhan in Najaf, Muhanned Saif Aldin in Tikrit and Naseer Nouri in Baghdad contributed.