Battle of Najaf (2004)

Battle of Najaf (2004)
	Part of the Iraq War
	; U.S. Army soldier looks towards the An Najaf cemetery during the battle
Date	5–27 August 2004; (3 weeks and 1 day)
Location	Najaf, Iraq
Result	Ceasefire
Territorial; changes	United States and Mahdi Army withdraw from the city; Iraqi forces take control of the city
Belligerents
United States; United Kingdom; Australia; Poland; Iraq; Spain; retired later	Mahdi Army; 1920 Revolution Brigades (minor involvement in cooperation with JAM)
Commanders and leaders
Col. Anthony Haslam; Jim Dutton; Grzegorz Kaliciak	Muqtada al-Sadr
Units involved
United States Army; 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment; British Army; Iraqi Ground Forces	No specific units
Strength
2,000 troops; 1,800 security forces; 1,000 troops; 100 troops; 90 troops	est. 1,400–1,500 militiamen
Casualties and losses
8 killed; 30+ wounded; 6 armoured vehicles damaged[citation needed]; 40 killed; 46 wounded[citation needed]; ; 19 wounded[citation needed]; 5 killed; 3 wounded	36 killed, 70 wounded (Mahdi Army claim); 360+killed, 261 captured; (coalition claim)

The Battle of Najaf was fought between United States and Iraqi forces on one side and the Mahdi Army led by Muqtada al-Sadr on the other in the Iraqi city of Najaf in August 2004.

^ "Operation Telic: British Forces Deployed". Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
^ "Iraqi Guardsmen Close in on Najaf Shrine". Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
^ "CNN.com - Marines report 300 insurgents killed in Najaf - Aug 6, 2004". edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 10 May 2025.
^ The Persian Gulf War and the War in Iraq by Elizabeth Schmermund