(2002 est. pop. 563,000). Also known as Mashhad ʿAli, al-Najaf is one of the holiest cities of Shiʿa Islam. It is located in Central Iraq, a few kilometers west of the Euphrates River near Kufa. Prior to their expulsion during the...

Najaf (Arabic: النجف; BGN: An Najaf) is a city in Iraq about 160 km south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2003 was 585,600 people, though this has increased significantly since 2003 due to immigration from abroad. It is the capital of Najaf...

AT BEST, PROGRESS in Iraq during the coming months will be uneven, and the options facing U.S. forces will range from unappealing to unthinkable. In that context, a brokered truce that Friday appeared to have ended, at least for now, the weeks-long battle of...

THE smiles and cheers of liberated Iraqis greeted the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division in the first days of April as the Americans secured the city of An Najaf, Iraq, and prepared it for post-regime rule. FROM the Iraqi people to the...

Accounts of the bloody battle near Najaf have produced more questions than answers, raising doubts about Iraqi security forces' performance and concern over tensions within the majority Shiite community.Among the questions: How did a messianic Shiite cult, the "Soldiers of Heaven," accumulate so many weapons...

U.S.-backed Iraqi troops on Sunday attacked insurgents allegedly plotting to kill pilgrims at a major Shiite Muslim religious festival, and Iraqi officials estimated some 250 militants died in the daylong battle near Najaf. A U.S. helicopter crashed during the fight, killing two American soldiers.Mortar shells,...