BAGHDAD, May 6 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The U.S. occupation forces announced Thursday, May 6, killing 41 Iraqis in the holy Shiite city of An-Najaf, a few hours after 18 Iraqis and three American soldiers were slain in separate attacks across the country.

A U.S. military spokesman told Reuters that 41 Iraqis were killed after a heavy fighting broke out between U.S. forces and militiamen loyal to Shiite leader Muqtada Al-Sadr in An-Najaf.

Fierce gun battles and mortar fire are reported, and plumes of smoke were seen rising as U.S. helicopters flew over the area.

The BBC News Online said fighting flared up out after U.S. soldiers, backed by tanks and armored vehicles, seized control of An-Najaf governor's office from Shiite militiamen.

Clashes between U.S. forces and Sadr's militia are also reported in the nearby town of Kufa.

Sadr's Mehdi Army militia last month took control of government buildings and police stations in southern cities including, An-Najaf and Kufa.

A correspondent for Agence France-Presse (AFP) said a heavy U.S. military presence is within a mile of the holy sites, in spite of earlier American pledges not to enter the shrines.

Any such move would cause widespread fury among Iraq's Shiites, already infuriated by the more than one-year occupation of the oil-rich country.

On April 27, the U.S. forces said they killed 43 resistance fighters near An-Najaf, but eyewitnesses and hospital sources said civilians made the bulk of those killed and wounded.

Blasts

A car bombing killed Thursday six Iraqis and one U.S. soldier near a bridge outside the sprawling headquarters of the U.S.-led occupation forces in Baghdad.

A car exploded at 7:28 am (0328 GMT) as civilians were queuing in their cars to cross the 14th of July Bridge, used only by the U.S. military and employees of the U.S.-led occupation authority.

Hospitals reported 13 Iraqis wounded, four of them seriously injured.

The attack was similar to a blast which killed 24 people at another entrance to the so-called Green Zone on January 17.

In another incident, the U.S. military said that two U.S. soldiers were killed and two others were wounded in a roadside bomb attack in the Iraqi capital.

The casualties were inflicted in "an improvised explosive device attack here just before midnight May 5", it said in a statement, without giving further details.

Today’s fatalities came after ten Iraqis were killed overnight in Baghdad's district of Sadr City, a senior U.S. military official said Thursday.

One U.S. soldier was also wounded during the clashes in the area with Mehdi Army militias.