At least three US soldiers and two Iraqi policemen were killed in the central Iraqi city of Karbala overnight, said US army Major Ralph Manos, a spokesman for the multinational force which controls the Karbala area. "Currently we confirmed three American MPs killed in action and two wounded, and we confirmed two Iraqi police killed in action and five Iraqi police wounded," Manos said. "At approximately 11:30 pm yesterday, a routine Iraqi patrol, accompanied by American MPs, was attacked by Iraqis from the roofs of buildings in the vicinity of the al-Abbas mosque," one of the city's two main shrines. Manos said coalition forces sealed off the area of the attacks. "As of this time, there is no report of further firing," he said, speaking shortly before noon (0900 GMT) Friday. He said the extent of casualties among the assailants could not immediately be established. But a member of a local militia headed by Shiite cleric Mahmud al-Hassani said US troops killed several people in the overnight exchange of fire. The militiaman, who would not give his name, said the militia had been patrolling the impoverished neighborhood around the al-Abbas mosque in defiance of an overnight curfew. The latest fatalities came as Iraq remained on a knife's edge after US forces moved for the first time against Sadr's supporters and violence spiraled in the northern oil center of Kirkuk. A few hours before Friday prayers, American tanks remained in position on a main avenue of Sadr City, a sprawling Shiite district of the capital where Sadr draws most of his support. Ignoring earlier warnings by local clerics that US troops would not be tolerated in the teeming neighborhood, soldiers on Thursday dislodged Sadr supporters occupying the municipal council offices, returning councilors to the building that was taken from them a week earlier. In Kirkuk, where violence has spiraled in recent weeks, US forces and local officials faced a series of attacks Thursday. **Pentagon to Send Additional Forces to Iraq*** Meanwhile, the Pentagon is drawing up plans to mobilize additional National Guard and Reserve forces for duty in Iraq, officials said Thursday, according to The AP. The additional reservists have not been notified because Pentagon planners have yet to decide which units to call on. The extra forces are to replace active-duty units due to return home. "There are combat support and combat service support units in the reserve component that probably have not been notified yet," Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a news conference at the Pentagon with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "They will be notified in plenty of time to give them all the notification they need and all the training," he conveyed. **PHOTO CAPTION*** US soldiers in Kirkuk. (AFP)