Insurgents

Government troops launched a pre-emptive attack on the insurgents, after receiving intelligence reports that they were planning an assault.

About thirty insurgents were killed.

He also pointed to a robust U.S. reconstruction effort in Iraq, which he said is beginning to improve the everyday lives of Iraqis and attenuate public sympathy for the insurgents.

These insurgents only want to ruin our country.

In some ways, it appears that holding two national ballots in a country lacking the most basic infrastructure, amid the threat of attack by zealous insurgents, may have been the easy part.