[AntiGuv]

If it's near Najaf then it's almost certainly Shiites, and probably the Al Mahdi militia of Moqtada al Sadr, which probably means that the Iraq campaign will become even more difficult before anything gets better. If it's not the Al Mahdi then the next most likely candidate would be the Badr Brigades, which would be an interesting twist, since we haven't been battling them much to date.

[LdSentinal]

Articles I've been reading today indicated they were mostly Sunnis who moved to Karbala to begin attacks against Shiites during their religious holiday.

[omega4179]

the story just posted said a major sunni assault on the holy city to kill clerics was broken up.

[advance_copy]

If it's near Najaf then it's almost certainly Shiites, and probably the Al Mahdi militia of Moqtada al Sadr, which probably means that the Iraq campaign will become even more difficult before anything gets better. If it's not the Al Mahdi then the next most likely candidate would be the Badr Brigades, which would be an interesting twist, since we haven't been battling them much to date.

According to the WaPo (take it for what it's worth), this is a congregation of sunni jihadists who were entrenched in orchards along the route to Najaf. They were setting up to attack shiite pilgrims on their way to the mosque in Najaf.

The Iraqi police and army are on the front lines of this one. U.S. forces are largely there in a support role. This will put a major dent in the overall sunni insurgent enemy forces. Still have to deal with the shiite mahdi militia, though.