US soldiers in Iraq

The U.S. military in Iraq says six American soldiers have been killed in roadside bombings and gun battles across the country.

Military statements issued Friday say five soldiers were killed in separate attacks Thursday in Baghdad and in three provinces north of the capital (Diyala, Salahuddin and Nineveh).

The military also announced the death of another soldier, who was killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad province on Tuesday.

Separately, the military says U.S. and Iraq forces raided Baghdad's mainly Shi'ite Sadr City neighborhood early Friday and detained a suspect linked to the leader of a terrorist cell.

In other news, anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr appeared at Friday prayers in the southern city of Kufa.

Top U.S. military officials say the radical cleric has quietly returned to southern Iraq. U.S. officials have said he went into hiding in Iran four months ago when U.S. and Iraqi forces began a huge security crackdown in Baghdad.

Meanwhile, thousands of American and Iraqi troops are continuing their search for two of three U.S. soldiers believed captured two weeks ago south of Baghdad by an al-Qaida linked terrorist group.

The body of the third soldier was pulled from the Euphrates River Wednesday. He has been identified as Private First Class Joseph Anzack Jr. from Torrance, California.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.