Iraqis Raid Insurgents Near Shiite Holy City - washingtonpost.com

Iraqis Raid Insurgents Near Shiite Holy City - washingtonpost.com: "Iraqis Raid Insurgents Near Shiite Holy City
More Than 300 Reported Dead in Ongoing Battle in Najaf

By Joshua Partlow and Saad Sarhan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, January 29, 2007; 9:04 AM

BAGHDAD, Jan. 29 -- Iraqi soldiers, backed by U.S. helicopters, stormed an encampment of hundreds of insurgents hiding among date palm orchards in southern Iraq in an operation Sunday that set off fierce, day-long gun battles during the holiest week for the country's Shiite Muslims.

Asad Abu Ghalal, the governor of Najaf Province, said at a press conference today that the number of dead exceeded 300 in the battle, which continued until early Monday morning in an area eight miles northeast of Najaf. Six members of the Iraqi forces were killed and 40 others injured, according to Col. Ali Nomas Jerao, spokesman of the Iraqi security forces in Najaf, while two U.S. troops died when their helicopter crashed during the clash."