Washington: The United States has said that it is determined to defeat the militants in Iraq, and Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose militia is currently fighting the US-led forces, will be brought to justice.

"The militant Shiite cleric, who has been indicted on charges of murder, will not stop coalition or Iraqi Governing Council efforts... and he will be brought to justice in due course," Secretary of State Colin Powell said in an interview to ABC television.

"We have got to defeat these Sunni remnants in the Sunni triangle left over from Saddam Hussein's regime, and we've got to deal with the forces of Muqtada al-Sadr in the South. I have confidence that our military will bring this under control," he said.

"Mahdi Army" of Muqtada al-Sadr has been fighting US-led troops causing widespread violence in the past one week across central and Southern Iraq, including Fallujah and Karbala.

"I'm confident we'll get Fallujah and Ramadi under control. In the case of Fallujah, the Marines are around the city now, on the outskirts of the city," Powell said adding, "The Marines know how to deal with a situation like this and will go in, defeat the enemy, and retake Fallujah and al-Ramadi."

Powell said it is important to get the security situation under control to "get on with reconstruction, get on with the political process and not lose sight of what we have accomplished over the past year and what our objective remains to be."