77 wounded in clashes between Iraqi security forces

Iraqi security forces patrol a road in Kerbala March 27, 2008. Clashes between Iraqi security forces and the Mahdi Army have spread in the past two days to the southern cities of Kut, Hilla, Diwaniya, Amara and Kerbala, as well as several Shi'ite neighbourhoods of Baghdad.

Residents grieve near the coffin of a woman who was killed in a U.S. airstrike, outside a hospital morgue in Baghdad's Sadr City March 27, 2008. Residents said four women were killed during a U.S. air strike on Thursday, but the U.S. forces has not commented on the attack.

Suspected insurgents are taken on the back of a truck after their arrest by Iraqi security forces in Diwaniya March 26, 2008. One Iraqi soldier was killed in eastern Diwaniya, 180 km (112 miles) south of Baghdad, in clashes between Iraqi security forces and Mehdi Army militants, according to an army source. Police Colonel Ghassan Mohammed, commander of emergency forces in Diwaniya, said two militants were killed, seven policemen wounded, and seven gunmen arrested in the clashes. Picture taken March 26, 2008.

Residents look at a crater after a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad March 27, 2008. The attack killed four civilians and wounded fourteen others, the Interior Ministry said. U.S. forces have not commented on the attack.

A man who was wounded during clashes lies in a hospital in Baghdad's Sadr City March 27, 2008. Twelve people have been killed and 77 wounded in clashes between Iraqi security forces and the Mehdi Army in Baghdad's Sadr City district since Tuesday, said Ali Bustan, general director of the health office for eastern Baghdad.