The United States military reported the death of five soldiers on Sunday, saying they were killed during operations carried out near Baghdad on Saturday.

Four troopers were killed by a powerful explosion south of Iraq’s capital Baghdad, four other being injured by the same blast. Another soldier was shot dead by unknown assailants near the same city while he was on a patrolling mission.

Also, the US army said 30 militants suspected to have links with al-Qaeda have been detained throughout the country on Sunday.
According to the governor of Karbala Aqeel al-Khazaali, security troops detained 41 militants and members of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization in the city located 100 kilometers southwest of Baghdad.

In other events, followers of the Shiite political and religious prominent figure Moqtada al-Sadr said the cleric hasn’t left the country as previous reports said and accused the US for trying to create instability inside the Sadrist Movement.

“US intelligence services are endeavoring to make a crack from within the Sadr's movement because of the movement's stand towards the Americans and its demands for putting a timetable for the US forces' pullout of Iraq,” a member of the political party reportedly said on Sunday.

Moqtada al-Sadr is know for his radical stance against the presence of foreign troops in Iraq and asked the government in numerous rows to push forward for the withdrawal of coalition forces from the war-torn country.