Iraq says 263 militants killed in Sunday battle

BAGHDAD, Jan 30 (Reuters) Iraq's defence ministry said today, 263 militants from an obscure Shi'ite cult were killed and more than 500 arrested on Sunday in one of the largest battles since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said Iraqi security forces arrested 502 people including 210 who had been wounded in the battle near the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf.

The government said the leader of the group, who claimed to be the Mahdi, a messiah-like figure in Islam, was killed. They said his ''Soldiers of Heaven'' had planned to assassinate top Shi'ite clerics and had to be stopped.

Television footage shot yesterday and obtained by Reuters today showed dozens of bodies laying in what appeared to be a dry and unused irrigation canal that the fighters appeared to have used as a trench.

Dozens of bullet casings and an empty Kalashnikov magazine lay at the side of a man's body. The man was dressed in a blue jacket and civilian clothes.

The footage also showed the bodies of several women and children who appeared to be indoors.

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