By Xinhua
Baghdad : US troops killed 11 Shiite militiamen in an early morning raid Thursday south of Baghdad, US military said.
A military statement said the operation in the city of Kut targeted criminal networks called Special Groups and described them as the Shiite Mahdi Army militiamen supported by Iran.
The militants were responsible for attacks against coalition forces and their supporters in the war-torn country, the statement said.
During the raid, the troops called in air support after the militants engaged them with rocket-propelled grenades, the statement said.
“Significant progress has been made in the fight for a secure and stable Iraq, but dangerous criminal elements still exist,” Major Winfield Danielson, a military spokesman said.
The Special Groups are Shiite militia extremists funded, trained and armed by external sources, specifically by Iranian Revolutionary Guards, he said.
Previously, the US military said the Special Groups have evolved over the past three years into what are largely rogue elements that use a cellular structure to operate independently.