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Iraq, U.S. troops kill 263 militants in Najaf battles
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Source: CCTV.com | 01-31-2007 08:46
Special Report: Iraq in TransitionIn Iraq, violence is still raging, without showing any signs of letting up. And the government is now saying that over 260 militants were killed on Sunday in one of the largest battles since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
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| The body of a militant lies near burnt vehicles after a battle in Najaf, south of Baghdad, Jan. 30, 2007.(Reuters Photo) |
Iraq's defense ministry says 263 militants are dead, along with the leader of an Iraqi religious cult who claimed to be the Mahdi. This, after an assault on their camp near Najaf. The ministry said more than 500 people were detained. And nearly half of them were wounded.
The government says the cult's "Soldiers of Heaven" were planning to assassinate top Shi'ite clerics and had to be stopped.
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| Iraqi soldiers stand guard near the bodies of militants after a battle in Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Jan. 30, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) |
The siege on the camp by US-backed Iraqi troops came as some two million Shi'ite mourners were converging on the holy Iraqi city of Kerbala for the major Islamic event of Ashura.
But a surge of violence launched by Sunni militants erupted on the final day of the week-long annual Ashura mourning rite. This, the highpoint of the Shi'ite religious calendar.
Police say gunmen attacked pilgrims in Baghdad's southwestern district of Bayaa, killing four and wounding six.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, at least 24 people were killed and 39 others wounded by road bombs in the town of Khanaqin.
In northern Baghdad, several barrages of mortar rounds rained down on Adhamiya, killing 17 people and wounding 72 others. Civilians bore the brunt of the mortar fire.
Mouayyid witness, said, "Death comes to us while we are in our houses. We are innocent people who hurt no one, even the insects. Mortars landed on our houses, damaging them. We have no money to live with. We have nothing, no food, no security We have nothing and we cannot do anything."
Ashura has been a favorite target in the past for radical Sunni militants.
