IRAQ:The Iraqi government yesterday declared an end to major combat operations near Najaf, where US and Iraqi forces had fought hundreds of fighters from an obscure Islamic splinter group suspected of planning attacks on the Shia clerical establishment during today's Ashura celebrations in nearby Kerbala.
Defence ministry officials said 200 militants, including the cult's leader, had been killed in the fighting and 60 were wounded. The site of the battle, an agricultural area north of Najaf, was said to be under the control of Iraqi security forces by early yesterday morning.
However, estimates for the number of dead and injured varied widely, as did information about the motives and membership of the previously unknown group, called the Army of Heaven, which believes in the return of the Mahdi, a ninth century imam whose reappearance will signal a new world of justice and peace.
Muhammad al-Askari, the defence ministry spokesman, said: "The victorious Iraqi forces, with US help, have smashed the group of terrorists who were planning to disrupt the holy day of Ashura."
He said 120 fighters had been arrested and caches of weapons and documents were seized.
The US military were largely quiet about the operation, during which two American soldiers lost their lives when a helicopter was brought down. The US transferred responsibility for security in Najaf province to Iraqi forces last month.
But there was a growing concern yesterday at the apparent ease with which the group's followers had managed to dig themselves in and build up a cache of heavy weapons under the noses of Iraqi security forces - in a part of the country where security is relatively good.
Police commanders in Najaf who launched the operation against the group at dawn on Sunday said they had been surprised by the ferocity and firepower they encountered.
Initially outgunned, they called in US air support that included Apache attack helicopters and F-16 jets. "We found bunkers full of mortars and automatic weapons and anti-aircraft rockets," a police spokesman said.
On a visit to Najaf, Iraq's national security minister, Sherwan al-Waeli, said the final death toll was still being calculated.
He said the cult's leader, named as Mahdi bin Ali bin Abi Taleb, believed to be a 40-year-old from the Shia city of Diwaniya, was killed.
The death toll among Iraqi forces was around 10 soldiers and police, Mr Waeli said.