Battle of Najaf ( 2004 ) The Battle of Najaf was fought between United States and Iraqi forces on one side and the Islamist Mahdi Army of Muqtada al - Sadr on the other in the Iraqi city of Najaf in August 2004 . Background . On July 31 , 2004 the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit - Special Operations Capable ( MEUSOC ) , under the Polish - led Multinational Division Central - South ( MND - CS ) , assumed operational control of An Najaf and Al - Qadisiyyah provinces from Task Force Dragon , which was composed of elements of the 1st Infantry Division . Task Force Dragon had earlier ( June 2004 ) relieved the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment who had been extended twice in Iraq . The MEU and the Mahdi Army first exchanged fire on August 2 , when a patrol by CAAT Alpha Wpns Co 1 / 4 approached a maternity clinic located directly across the street from the home of Muqtada al - Sadr on the outskirts of the city . The clinic was in an area authorized for U . S . presence under a June cease - fire agreement brokered between coalition forces and Muqtada Sadr by the Governor of Najaf , other local civic leaders , and the Bayt al - Shia ( the informal council of senior Shia clerics ) . The Marines reported over 70 enemy dead after nearly an hour of fighting . The Mahdi Army kept a steady resupply of men and weapons coming out of the Wadi - us - Salaam cemetery . CAAT Alpha faced mortars , RPG ' s ( Rocket Propelled Grenades ) and small arms fire with one Marine wounded until running low on ammunition . 1 / 4 ' s Bravo Co . was sent in on 7 - ton trucks to provide covering fire for CAAT Alpha . Both sides withdrew to their respective strongholds soon afterwards . Battle . Major conflict began on August 5 , when the Mahdi Army ( MA ) attacked an Iraqi Police Station at 1 am . Their first attack was repelled but the MA regrouped and attacked again at 3 am . Soon after , a quick reaction force ( QRF ) from the MEU was dispatched at the request of the governor of An Najaf . Around 11 am the QRF came under heavy machine gun and mortar fire from the Mahdi Army within the Wadi - us - Salaam , the largest cemetery in the Muslim world approximately 7 miles squared . The cemetery has been layered over the centuries resulting in large underground tombs , tunnels and surface monuments , many reaching two stories tall . The Marines of 1 / 4 fought across this inhospitable terrain and under it in some of the first tunnel fighting seen since Vietnam . A U . S . Marine UH - 1N helicopter was shot down by small - arms fire on the second day of the fighting while conducting a close air support mission over enemy positions , the crew survived . Four U . S . military personnel were killed during the heavy street battles fought between the Mahdi Army and U . S . and Iraqi forces , until the MEU withdrew temporarily on August 7 . On August 9 the U . S . added three battalions to the battle : During the fighting half a dozen U . S . Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles were damaged or disabled by insurgent RPG fire in the narrow streets . Only the armored vehicles fought from these battalions . The dismounts that would normally be deployed from the Bradleys were left in Forward Operating Base Duke . Fighting began in the city centre and then moved through the cemetery . After several days the fighting shifted to the environs of the Imam Ali Mosque when the Mahdi Army withdrew and took refuge there . United States Marines from the MEU encircled the complex after fighting through the Old City and began a siege . The Mahdi Army utilized large hotels that overlook the cemetery as overwatch machine gun positions . A Marine from CAAT Alpha shot TOW missiles at the Mahdi machine gun positions while Marines from Alpha and Bravo Co . assaulted several of these hotels . After heavy hand to hand and room to room fighting the hotels were secured , relieving elements of Charlie Co . who were pinned down in the cemetery . There were not enough Marines however to properly hold the hotels and they were consolidated to two adjoining ones . The fighting damaged two of the minarets of the mosque , one of the holiest of all Shiite shrines . ( Although neighboring buildings suffered considerable damage , the mosque itself suffered only superficial damage from stray bullets and shrapnel ) . During the assault on the Old City a platoon of El Salvadorian soldiers having run out of ammunition conducted a bayonet charge on a Mahdi dug - in position , routing the MA ' s . On August 23 at least 15 explosions , many sounding like artillery shells , rocked the area , as shrapnel fell in the courtyard of the gold - domed mosque and gunfire echoed through the alleyways . On August 26 , 2004 , two F - 16 s flying out of Balad dropped four 2000 pound JDAMs ( Joint Direct Attack Munitions ) on two hotels near the shrine which were being used by the insurgents . The successful airstrike dealt a devastating blow to Sadr and led to a hasty settlement with Grand Ayatollah Sistani the following morning allowed Al - Sadr and the remnants of his militia to leave Najaf . This arrangement was only favorable to the Americans because it relieved them of the need to enter the Imam Ali Mosque . The Marines and Army armor crewmen lined the street watching Sadr ' s Mahdi Army leave the mosque . Aftermath . The battle ended on August 27 , 2004 with a negotiated ceasefire : Mahdi army fighters surrendered their weapons before leaving and none of them were detained ; Marine battalion 1 / 4 and the Iraqi police took control of the security in the city . Although sporadic fighting continued for some months . Some MA fighters from Najaf went to Sadr City in Baghdad , where there had also been heavy fighting , to help the Mahdi Army in their guerrilla activities against U . S and Iraqi forces . A final agreement between the U . S . and Muqtada al - Sadr was reached by the end of September and fighting ceased in early October . Fighting spread to Najaf province and lasted for several more months before finally winding down . The US military ’ s use of depleted uranium in Iraq has led to a sharp increase in Leukemia and birth defects in the city of Najaf aftermath the battle .