NAJAF, Iraq, 29 January 2007 — US and Iraqi forces killed 250 gunmen in a battle involving US tanks and helicopters near the city of Najaf yesterday, Iraqi police, army and political sources said.
The daylong battle was continuing after nightfall, Col. Ali Nomas told Reuters. A Reuters reporter on the scene saw several American tanks and other armored vehicles arriving at the site of the battle, 160 km south of Baghdad.
A US helicopter was earlier shot down in the fighting and two crew members were killed, the US military said.
A US statement said the incident occurred while the helicopter was “conducting operations to assist Iraqi security forces” and that the remains of the crew members were recovered. The death of the two soldiers brought US military’s losses in Iraq since the invasion to 3,073, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures. An Iraqi Army source said some of the dead wore headbands with “Soldier of Heaven” emblazoned.
The fighting began as hundreds of thousands of people converged on the other main southern city of Kerbala, 70 km to the north of Najaf, for the climax of the annual rite of Ashura.
Iraqi sources said the gunmen appeared to be both Sunni Arabs and Shiites loyal to Ahmed Hassani Al-Yemeni, whom they described as a cult leader. It is not clear where these fighters were drawn from but their leader, according to Shiite political sources and Iraqi security sources, has been active in Najaf until recently.
A Reuters reporter about 1.5 km from the fighting said he heard intense gunfire and saw US helicopters rocket groves sheltering militants.
One of the army officers said the gunmen were dressed in camouflage uniforms and appeared to be well organized. About 25 had been captured, including a Sudanese national.
Sources at two local hospitals said they were treating 35 wounded soldiers and police and five police had been killed.
A source from the Iraqi-US Coordination Center told AFP: “Between 250 and 300 gunmen have been killed in the battle. US aircraft are also intensely bombing the area.”
An Iraqi Army major in the area was more cautious on giving a figure. “We don’t really know how many have died,” the officer said. “There were around 500 fighters in the area and we think the airstrikes have pretty much annihilated them.”
