BAGHDAD, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- The leader of an al-Qaida-linked militant group which planned to attack Shiite clerics during Shiite's Ashura commemorations was killed during a day-long battle outside Najaf, an Iraqi government spokesman said on Monday.

    "Ali Bin Ali Bin Abi Talib, the leader of the group called the Jund al-Samaa or Soldiers of Heaven, is confirmed to be killed during the operation," Ali al-Dabbagh told the official Iraqia television.

    "This group has a political agenda with ties inside and outside Iraq, but was covered by religious ideology," said Dabbagh, without releasing more details.

    The Commander of the Iraqi army in Najaf Colonel Ali Jreio said that up to 300 militants were killed during the day-long battle on Sunday near the holy Shiite city of Najaf, some 160 km south of Baghdad.

    "The situation is under control now and by Monday morning our forces started to search the area after the battles that resulted in the killing of some 300 terrorists and the detention of 13 others," Jreio said.

    Abdul Husein Attan, deputy governor of Najaf province, told reporters that an extremist Sunni group called al-Qaida in Iraq Organization was behind the group of radical militants.

    "I can confirm that the al-Qaida in Iraq is behind this group,"Attan said, adding, "Based on the confessions of interrogated militants and other information, this group intended to attack Shiite clerics and take control of Najaf and its holy sites."