Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. and Iraqi forces killed 50 insurgents and captured 11 others in clashes in central Baghdad.

The action today was in response to an attack by insurgents who used gunfire, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, the U.S. military and President Jalal Talabani's party said. The death toll among the insurgents was at least 50, Iraqi state television reported, citing the Defense Ministry. Seven Syrians were among the detainees, Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said on its Arabic-language Web site.

The operation began at Taleel Square, to restore Iraqi control over Haifa Street, the U.S. military said in an e-mailed statement. The area is north of the fortified International or Green Zone, where government buildings and embassies are sited. Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television showed a U.S. jet fighter and helicopters flying over the district and said U.S. soldiers backed the Iraqi Army in closing roads and raiding houses.

``This area has been subject to insurgent activity which has repeatedly disrupted Iraqi Security Force operations in central Baghdad,'' Lieutenant Colonel Scott Bleichwehl, a spokesman for U.S.-led coalition forces in Baghdad, said in the statement.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki praised his country's forces in a news conference on state television.

``The Iraqi Army of today is not the Iraqi Army of the past,'' he said. The channel, which usually airs entertainment programming in between newscasts, today featured footage of Iraqi Army parades accompanied by rousing music instead.

Bush's Strategy

U.S. President George W. Bush is scheduled to address the American public tomorrow in a televised speech in which he will unveil his new strategy for Iraq. Among the options he has been considering is the deployment of 20,000 more U.S. soldiers to stem sectarian and insurgent violence in Baghdad.

It's ``too late'' for increases, Michael Williams, head of the transatlantic program at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television today.

``Overwhelming force only works in conventional wars,'' Williams said. ``Here you're engaged in counter-insurgency, you need to be able to work politically and economically with the people to encourage development.

``Twenty-thousand more troops is essentially 20,000 more targets, and especially as the Iraqi forces are unable to actually hold territory,'' Williams said. ``This has been the problem, the U.S. has cleared it and then Iraqi forces are unable to hold it and build on it.''

U.S. personnel engaged in training Iraqis have described the country's forces as semi-professional at best, Williams said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Robin Stringer in London at rstringer@bloomberg.net; Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 9, 2007 11:06 EST