BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A powerful and radical Shiite cleric implored his followers Sunday to stop killing Iraqis and focus their violent efforts on ousting American forces from the war-torn nation.
Muqtada al-Sadr also called on Iraqi forces to join the insurgents in the battle against "the occupiers."
The firebrand cleric's mandate came as a Baghdad security spokesman announced that a ban on civilian vehicular traffic will go into effect Monday, the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.
The 24-hour vehicle ban is slated to begin at 5 a.m. (10 p.m. Sunday ET), Baghdad security operations spokesman Gen. Qassim Atta said on Iraqi state television.
South of the capital, in Diwaniya, U.S. and Iraqi forces were in their third day of battling al-Sadr's Mehdi Army.
Meanwhile, caravans of the cleric's followers were converging on Najaf, south of Diwaniya, for an anti-American demonstration scheduled there Monday at al-Sadr's behest.
They walked through the streets Sunday chanting in Arabic, "No, no to the occupiers; yes, yes to Islam" and "Iraq will always be independent and free of occupiers," police said.
Najaf is an al-Sadr stronghold and a Shiite hub.
Authorities are stepping up security and checkpoints to prepare for the influx of al-Sadr supporters, Najaf police said.
In a statement -- attributed to al-Sadr and released in Najaf on Sunday -- the cleric purportedly said insurgents should not be killing Iraqis and that Iraqi police and troops should be on the side of the militias.
"You, the Iraqi army and police forces, do not walk alongside the occupiers because they are your enemy," it said. "I am here to advise you the honest resister hopes for two thing from God: either victory or martyrdom. But at the same time, the honest resister should not kill a fellow Iraqi."
The statement also carried a message to the Mehdi Army forces in Diwaniya: "My brothers in the Mehdi Army and my brothers in the Iraqi security forces, stop fighting each other. This will be an accomplishment in our enemy's scheme."
The U.S. military said it has captured 39 militia fighters and killed several in the Diwaniya fighting, which began Friday and has been dubbed Operation Black Eagle.
"So far, we have achieved great success fighting the terrorists," said Maj. Gen. Oothman Faroud, who is leading Iraqi soldiers in the Diwaniya operation. "We have freed the people of Diwaniya from the murder and intimidation that has plagued the city 24 hours a day, seven days a week for months."
Six U.S. troops killed
Six American soldiers died Sunday, including three killed by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, U.S. commanders reported.
In a separate attack south of the city, one soldier was killed and three wounded Sunday when their unit came under rocket or mortar fire, according to the military.
Two more soldiers were killed in fighting north of Baghdad, in Salaheddin and Diyala provinces, U.S. commanders said.
The deaths hike the weekend toll for U.S. troops in Iraq to 10. Four soldiers were reported killed Saturday in an explosion in Diyala, which includes the restive city of Baquba.
The casualties bring the U.S. death toll in Iraq to 3,280, including seven civilian contractors, since the March 2003 invasion that toppled former dictator Saddam Hussein.
Bombs erupt in, around Baghdad
A powerful car bomb killed at least 17 civilians and wounded 26 others on Sunday in the latest in a spate of attacks outside the Iraqi capital since a new security plan there took effect.
The vehicle was packed with explosives and old artillery shells, Mahmoudiya police officials said. The blast sent the shells flying into a nearby residential building and an auto mechanic's shop.
Mahmoudiya is 21 miles (35 kilometers) from the capital. The explosives detonated about 54 yards (50 meters) from Mahmoudiya Hospital.
"Three of us and a young boy were sitting in a store selling spare parts for cars when there was a huge explosion. Debris from the roof fell on me," one wounded man, who gave his name as Sadeq, told Reuters news agency while lying on a hospital bed.
Explosions also were reported around Baghdad, police said. At least five people were killed in the blasts.
Four of the deaths came in southwest Baghdad's al-Alam neighborhood when a car bomb exploded near an outdoor market. Sixteen people were wounded in the explosion, police said.
A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi police patrol in northern Baghdad's Adhamiya neighborhood killed a Baghdad police officer and wounded four officers.
South of the capital, in the holy city of Karbala, clashes broke out between police and gunmen in the desert, according to a Karbala police official. The gunmen fled in their vehicles before they could be detained.
After the fight, police found the bodies of six shepherds from a group of 18 who were abducted, along with their livestock, by suspected al Qaeda in Iraq members Wednesday, the official said.
The shepherds were kidnapped near the desert borders of volatile Anbar province in western Iraq.
Other developments
• Seventeen bodies were found scattered around Baghdad on Sunday. Such finds typically are the result of sectarian attacks carried out during the night.
• Early Sunday raids launched by U.S.-led coalition forces in Baghdad netted a senior al Qaeda-in-Iraq leader linked to a number of roadside bomb attacks in the capital, the U.S. military said.
• In Mahmoudiya, troops captured three "known insurgents," the U.S. military said. Two of those detained were identified as being involved in an attack last week in which a U.S. paratrooper was shot to death and another was wounded; the third insurgent was linked to roadside bomb production, the military said.
CNN's Carolina Sanchez and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
Muqtada al-Sadr also called on Iraqi forces to join the insurgents in the battle against "the occupiers."
The firebrand cleric's mandate came as a Baghdad security spokesman announced that a ban on civilian vehicular traffic will go into effect Monday, the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.
The 24-hour vehicle ban is slated to begin at 5 a.m. (10 p.m. Sunday ET), Baghdad security operations spokesman Gen. Qassim Atta said on Iraqi state television.
South of the capital, in Diwaniya, U.S. and Iraqi forces were in their third day of battling al-Sadr's Mehdi Army.
Meanwhile, caravans of the cleric's followers were converging on Najaf, south of Diwaniya, for an anti-American demonstration scheduled there Monday at al-Sadr's behest.
They walked through the streets Sunday chanting in Arabic, "No, no to the occupiers; yes, yes to Islam" and "Iraq will always be independent and free of occupiers," police said.
Najaf is an al-Sadr stronghold and a Shiite hub.
Authorities are stepping up security and checkpoints to prepare for the influx of al-Sadr supporters, Najaf police said.
In a statement -- attributed to al-Sadr and released in Najaf on Sunday -- the cleric purportedly said insurgents should not be killing Iraqis and that Iraqi police and troops should be on the side of the militias.
"You, the Iraqi army and police forces, do not walk alongside the occupiers because they are your enemy," it said. "I am here to advise you the honest resister hopes for two thing from God: either victory or martyrdom. But at the same time, the honest resister should not kill a fellow Iraqi."
The statement also carried a message to the Mehdi Army forces in Diwaniya: "My brothers in the Mehdi Army and my brothers in the Iraqi security forces, stop fighting each other. This will be an accomplishment in our enemy's scheme."
The U.S. military said it has captured 39 militia fighters and killed several in the Diwaniya fighting, which began Friday and has been dubbed Operation Black Eagle.
"So far, we have achieved great success fighting the terrorists," said Maj. Gen. Oothman Faroud, who is leading Iraqi soldiers in the Diwaniya operation. "We have freed the people of Diwaniya from the murder and intimidation that has plagued the city 24 hours a day, seven days a week for months."
Six U.S. troops killed
Six American soldiers died Sunday, including three killed by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, U.S. commanders reported.
In a separate attack south of the city, one soldier was killed and three wounded Sunday when their unit came under rocket or mortar fire, according to the military.
Two more soldiers were killed in fighting north of Baghdad, in Salaheddin and Diyala provinces, U.S. commanders said.
The deaths hike the weekend toll for U.S. troops in Iraq to 10. Four soldiers were reported killed Saturday in an explosion in Diyala, which includes the restive city of Baquba.
The casualties bring the U.S. death toll in Iraq to 3,280, including seven civilian contractors, since the March 2003 invasion that toppled former dictator Saddam Hussein.
Bombs erupt in, around Baghdad
A powerful car bomb killed at least 17 civilians and wounded 26 others on Sunday in the latest in a spate of attacks outside the Iraqi capital since a new security plan there took effect.
The vehicle was packed with explosives and old artillery shells, Mahmoudiya police officials said. The blast sent the shells flying into a nearby residential building and an auto mechanic's shop.
Mahmoudiya is 21 miles (35 kilometers) from the capital. The explosives detonated about 54 yards (50 meters) from Mahmoudiya Hospital.
"Three of us and a young boy were sitting in a store selling spare parts for cars when there was a huge explosion. Debris from the roof fell on me," one wounded man, who gave his name as Sadeq, told Reuters news agency while lying on a hospital bed.
Explosions also were reported around Baghdad, police said. At least five people were killed in the blasts.
Four of the deaths came in southwest Baghdad's al-Alam neighborhood when a car bomb exploded near an outdoor market. Sixteen people were wounded in the explosion, police said.
A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi police patrol in northern Baghdad's Adhamiya neighborhood killed a Baghdad police officer and wounded four officers.
South of the capital, in the holy city of Karbala, clashes broke out between police and gunmen in the desert, according to a Karbala police official. The gunmen fled in their vehicles before they could be detained.
After the fight, police found the bodies of six shepherds from a group of 18 who were abducted, along with their livestock, by suspected al Qaeda in Iraq members Wednesday, the official said.
The shepherds were kidnapped near the desert borders of volatile Anbar province in western Iraq.
Other developments
• Seventeen bodies were found scattered around Baghdad on Sunday. Such finds typically are the result of sectarian attacks carried out during the night.
• Early Sunday raids launched by U.S.-led coalition forces in Baghdad netted a senior al Qaeda-in-Iraq leader linked to a number of roadside bomb attacks in the capital, the U.S. military said.
• In Mahmoudiya, troops captured three "known insurgents," the U.S. military said. Two of those detained were identified as being involved in an attack last week in which a U.S. paratrooper was shot to death and another was wounded; the third insurgent was linked to roadside bomb production, the military said.
CNN's Carolina Sanchez and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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