Police said two roadside bombs have struck an Iraqi army patrol north of Baghdad, killing five troops and wounding eight. According to the AP, an official at the provincial security headquarters in Diyala province said the bombs went off simultaneously Thursday at about 2 a.m. as the patrol was in a village near Jalula.

On Wednesday, Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr called for "revenge operations" against American forces to protest Israel's Gaza Strip offensive. The statement issued by the cleric's office in Najaf also called on that Palestinian flags be raised on mosques, churches and other buildings in Iraq and that all countries shut down Israel's embassies.

U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters, "Any call for attacks against Americans is outrageous and, frankly, not worthy of much more comment."

© 2009 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)