| U.S.-led forces in Iraq have killed 51 guerrillas, including 20 in an air strike on insurgents loading and unloading weapons from vehicles in southeastern Iraq, the U.S. military said Monday. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told a news conference U.S.-led forces had killed 17 militiamen loyal to rebel Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr near shrines in the holy city of Kerbala in the past 24 hours. Thirteen Sadr militiamen were killed in other areas, he said. Insurgents had fired rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and automatic rifles on U.S. forces in the city, 110 km (68 miles) south of Baghdad, Kimmitt said. "Sounds of fighting in the downtown area could be heard for much of the night," he said. One other insurgent was killed Monday in Najaf when U.S.-led forces were sent to defend police stations which had come under attack, he said. Fighters from Sadr's militia say U.S.-led forces in Iraq routinely exaggerate casualties. U.S.-led forces are trying to crush Sadr's uprising before handing sovereignty to a new Iraqi government on June 30. |