On deadly day, Al-Sadr says he wants U.S. out

Sunnis move to Baqouba
While religious-based killings are lower in Baghdad in the eighth week of the security crackdown, Sunni insurgents — including al-Qaida in Iraq — and Shiite militia fighters have shifted their battleground to regions like Baqouba, the Diyala province capital northeast of Baghdad.

At least 62 bodies — execution victims who were tortured — were found in or near Baqouba last week alone.

In a rural area just east of Baghdad, three mortar rounds crashed into houses and six people were taken to a hospital in Sadr City with breathing troubles from a possible chemical agent, police said.

Doctors said the victims’ faces turned yellow and they were unable to open their eyes. One hospital official said the chemical was chlorine, although such an effect was unlikely given the small amount of the chemical that could be fitted into the shells.

U.S.: Al-Qaida leader captured
U.S. forces captured a senior al-Qaida leader and two others in a raid Sunday morning in Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

The al-Qaida figure was identified as “the gatekeeper to the al-Qaida emir of Baghdad” and was linked to several car bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital, the military said in a statement, without naming the captive.

NBC VIDEO Fight over Iraq April 8: Monday President Bush returns to Washington -- and to the fight with Congress over the direction of the Iraq war. NBC’s John Yang reports. Nightly News

Iraqis streamed toward Najaf for Monday’s 4th anniversary demonstration. Witnesses said thousands of residents in Baghdad’s largest Shiite slum, Sadr City, boarded buses and minivans Sunday for Najaf.

“The faithful should participate in a demonstration in Najaf on April 9, demanding that the occupiers withdraw from our lands. They should carry or wear Iraqi flags,” al-Sadr’s office said.

On Sunday, Iraqi flags flew from most houses and shops in Sadr City. Drivers and motorcyclists affixed them to their vehicles. Police escorted convoys of pickup trucks overflowing with young boys waving Iraqi flags, en route to Najaf.

An Iraqi flag was hoisted over a military base in Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city, as Iraqi troops took control of the facility Sunday from British forces. The Shatt al-Arab base is the second to be transferred to Iraqi control in Basra over the past month.

Also Sunday, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that Iran refused to allow Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s plane to fly through Iranian airspace. But the spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, said the row was only a technical issue.

“For all flights there is a need for authorization, for which formalities must have been done in advance,” he was quoted as saying.

Members of the delegation traveling with al-Maliki told The Associated Press early Sunday that the plane was diverted to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where al-Maliki stayed in the airport for more than three hours while his government aircraft was refueled and a new flight plan was filed.

MORE FROM CONFLICT IN IRAQ

Conflict in Iraq Section Front

U.S. releases Iranian officials held in Iraq Two separate bomb blasts kill 8 in Iraq Experts: Iraq invasion harmed Babylon Worst violence since U.S. pullback hits Iraq U.S. releases 5 Iranian officials in Iraq Army's new mission: To exit Iraq Conflict in Iraq Section Front   Add Conflict in Iraq headlines to your news reader: