kaboom!north of Baghdad, killing eight fighters from a militia headed by an influential Shiite Moslem holy man.
The ambush has been confirmed by a front man with the Peace Brigades, or Saraya al-Salam militia, which is commanded by
Moqtada Tateral-Sadr
... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah...
. They both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The militia front man said among those killed was a militia commander, Hussein Attiyeh.
The ambush occurred west of the holy city of Samarra, some 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of the capital Baghdad.
There is no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. al-Sadr’s political coalition came first in last year’s May elections.