April 6 (Bloomberg) -- Seven American soldiers died in separate incidents today and yesterday in the Iraqi capital Baghdad and in the western province of Al Anbar, the U.S. military said. As many as 66 Iraqis died in clashes in the past two days with coalition forces, AFP and ANSA reported.

``Three Task Force 1st Armored Division soldiers were killed during separate attacks April 5-6 in the Kadhimyah district,'' of Baghdad, U.S. military spokesman Justin McCue said, reading from a statement on the telephone from Baghdad. Two soldiers died yesterday, and one was killed today in different clashes in the district, he said. Four marines were killed yesterday in Al Anbar province, he said.

Fighting between Italian forces and supporters of Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr today resulted in the deaths of fifteen Iraqis in Nassiriyah, west of Baghdad, Italian news agency ANSA said, citing an unidentified spokeswoman of the Coalition Provisional Authority.

A Ukrainian soldier was killed today and five were wounded in fighting with Iraqi insurgents in Kut, south of Baghdad, the Ukrainian government said in a statement.

``Our response to this should not be to run away,'' U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said after meeting Iraq's Interim Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari in London, AFP reported. ``Our response to this should be to hold firm.''

Riots

Armed loyalists of al-Sadr rioted Sunday in Baghdad and Najaf, leaving at least 40 Iraqis and eight U.S. soldiers dead, as protesters demanded an end to the U.S.-led occupation. The U.S. military command in Baghdad said the 31-year-old al-Sadr is the subject of an arrest warrant for the killing of cleric Abdul Majid al-Khoei last April.

Al-Sadr today said he traveled to Najaf after ending a sit- in at a mosque in Kufa, according to Agence France-Presse. ``I have taken it upon myself to prevent more bloodshed,'' AFP cited him as saying in a statement.

If U.S.-led occupying forces don't adhere to al-Sadr's demands to withdraw from residential areas and free 10,000 detainees, the situation will remain as it is or get worse, ANSA cited the cleric's spokesman Qais al-Khazali as saying in comments broadcast by Arab-language television stations.

The violence on Sunday came after a newspaper run by supporters of al-Sadr was shut by the coalition last week and one of his aides, Mustafa Yacoubi, was detained, also in connection with al-Khoei's death. Thirteen people have been arrested over the killing, and there are 12 more being sought by the Iraqi judge investigating the matter, U.S. spokesman Dan Senor said in a Baghdad briefing.

Italians Injured

Twelve Italians were injured in the Nassiriyah clashes, ANSA said. Fifteen Iraqis were killed and eight were injured over the past two days in the southeastern city of Amara and elsewhere in the south east of the country in fighting between loyalists of the cleric and British soldiers, Coalition spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said in a statement. Seven U.K. soldiers suffered minor injuries.

The Iraqis belonged to a ``militant criminal element believed to be linked to the Mahdi Army,'' Hornbuckle said. The Iraqis fired rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire.

British troops yesterday negotiated an end to the occupation of the governor's office in the U.K.-controlled southern city of Basra by Iraqis loyal to al-Sadr.

At least 39 Iraqis were killed Sunday and Monday in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City when U.S. troops fought Shiite militias, AFP reported, citing Kassem Saddim Mazkour, the head of Sadr City's Ath-Thawra hospital.

U.S. President George W. Bush said yesterday the U.S. plans to meet a deadline to transfer power to a provisional government in Iraq by June 30. United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is in Baghdad discussing with Iraq's interim Governing Council how to form an administration to take over from the U.S.-led authority. The U.S. will keep about 100,000 soldiers in Iraq after the transfer.

Three hundred and eight U.S. soldiers have been killed in action since Bush declared an end to ``major combat operations'' on May 1, according to a statement posted yesterday on the U.S. Department of Defense Web site. The latest deaths would bring that toll to 315.