Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

An Iraqi soldier displays a poster of the leader of an Iraqi cult after Monday's battle in Najaf Jan. 30, 2007.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

     BAGHDAD, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. helicopters killed 263 militants and detained 392 others in the battles outside the holy Shiite city of Najaf, some 160 km south of Baghdad, a defense ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.  

    "Our final reports said that 263 terrorists were killed and 210 others wounded in the battles of Zargah area north of Najaf,"spokesman Mohammad al-Askari told the official television of Iraqia.

    "Our security forces also detained 392 terrorists who are now in the custody of the Iraqi police and army," he said.  

    Earlier, Colonel Ali Jreio, the commander of the Iraqi army in Najaf said that about 300 militants were killed in the battles.  

    On Sunday, Iraqi security forces fought fiercely a day-long battle outside Najaf against a group of radical militants who planned to attack Shiite clerics during Shiite's Ashura commemorations.

    During the battle, the U.S. army suffered the loss of two soldiers and one Apache helicopter, according to a U.S. military statement.