At least 17 killed as U.S., Iraqi forces battle Shiite militia

At least 17 people were killed Friday when U.S. and Iraqi forces battled "rogue" Shiite militia members in Karbala after a raid, the U.S. military said.

A hospital official said earlier that the dead included two women and that 25 people were wounded in the fighting, including women and children.

But the U.S. military said there were no civilians in the area of the fighting.

The military said troops conducted a raid "without incident" and detained a person it called "a high-level rogue" militia leader -- a commander of the Mehdi Army in western Karbala. The Mehdi Army is the militia of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

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