BASRA, Jan 18: Iraqi soldiers and police fought running battles with gunmen from a Shia cult in two southern cities on Friday in which dozens of people were killed and nearly 100 wounded, officials said.

Police said the head of the so-called “Soldiers of Heaven” cult in Basra had been killed in the fighting, which is reminiscent of clashes between the obscure group and Iraqi and US forces a year ago. Those battles near the holy city of Najaf left hundreds dead, mainly members of the cult.

The latest clashes are the biggest test yet for Iraq’s army and police in the south since Britain finished handing back responsibility for security in the region last month.

Maj-Gen Abdul Jalil Khalaf, the Basra provincial police chief, said that dozens of people had been killed in Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, where gunmen staged a series of hit-and-run raids using heavy machine guns.

Khalaf did not give a precise number of those killed during several hours of fighting, but he said it included the head of the “Soldiers of Heaven” in the city.

Fifteen people including a police major-general and two colonels were killed in the city of Nassiriya, officials said.

Hospital officials said 82 people had been wounded.

Witnesses said gunmen from the “Soldiers of Heaven” attacked four police stations in the city.

“The area (in Basra) where the clashes took place is under the control of the Iraqi security forces except for a few streets,” said Khalaf, who earlier said Iraqi military helicopters had been called in to hunt for gunmen.

Police in Basra and Nassiriya said fighters from the “Soldiers of Heaven” cult had opened fire on security forces in both cities.

CURFEW: A cameraman in Basra said he saw about 30 gunmen dressed in black carrying machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Some of them were driving at least two vehicles seized from police, he said.