Baghdad  - Thousands of people protested the sixth anniversary of the US-led occupation of Iraq in central Baghdad on Thursday.

Protesters affiliated with firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al- Sadr's movement braved driving rain to fill the streets of downtown Baghdad to mark the sixth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to US- led troops.

Protesters waved Iraqi flags and chanted "No, no to America," and "No, no to occupation" on Thursday.

On April 9, 2003, US soldiers sacked Baghdad and formally declared the city under military occupation. A small crowd of Iraqis and US troops toppled a statue of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in downtown Baghdad's Firdus Square.

People from around Iraq converged on Baghdad from around the country to participate in Thursday's protest, and the Iraqi government deployed thousands of soldiers and policemen to the streets of Baghdad for the occasion.

In an hours-long visit to Baghdad on Tuesday night, US President Barack Obama repeated pledges to withdraw US troops from Iraqi cities and towns by the end of July, and to withdraw US soldiers from the country completely by 2011.

His visit came amid a surge in violence in the capital. On Wednesday, at least seven people were killed when a bomb exploded near the shrine to the Shiite holy man Mussa al-Kadhim.

Shortly before Obama arrived, another bomb near the same shrine killed at least eight people and wounded 18 others. That attack, in turn, followed seven car bombs in Baghdad and Mosul that killed at least 42 people on Monday, police said. (dpa)