Attack on military base in Iraq leaves 6 soldiers dead

An attack on an Iraqi military base near Baghdad Monday left six soldiers, including four senior officers, dead, authorities said. The missile attack targeted barracks belonging to a military battalion in the Abu Ghraib area, an Iraqi police official told the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA. China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported the attack came as Iraqi soldiers were carrying out a large-scale anti-al-Qaida offensive in the volatile region west of Baghdad through the province of Anbar. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Sunday a Sunni anti-government sit-in camp in the area had become "a base for the leadership of al-Qaida." He urged protesters "to leave the camp so that al-Qaida will stay alone."