US-Iraqi Troops Battle Shiite Militants

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6810007,00.html

Friday July 27, 2007 4:16 PM


By SINAN SALAHEDDIN

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) - A U.S. and Iraqi raid to arrest a rogue Shiite militia leader sparked a fierce battle in the holy city of Karbala Friday that led to a U.S. airstrike and left some 17 militants dead, the military said.

The joint force moved in before dawn to detain a man described as the commander of a breakaway group of the powerful Mahdi Army, along with two other suspects.

The raid went off without incident, but the troops came under fire as they left the area with their prisoners, the military said. Attackers fired small arms, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades from three locations. Five militants were killed in the fighting, the military said.

Militants fired on a helicopter assisting the operation and U.S. special forces called in attack aircraft, which launched an airstrike that killed about a dozen more militants, the U.S. military said.

The military said no civilians were in the area, but local Iraqi officials said nine people were killed, including four militiamen and five civilians, and 23 people were wounded.