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IRAQCult leader, followers killed in Najaf Iraq's army announced it had killed the leader of a heavily armed cult of messianic Shiites called "the Soldiers of Heaven" in a gunbattle aimed at foiling a plot to attack leading Shiite clerics and pilgrims in the southern city of Najaf on the holiest day of the Shiite calendar. The fierce 24-hour battle was ultimately won by Iraqi troops supported by U.S. and British jets and American ground forces, but the ability of a splinter group little known in Iraq to rally hundreds of heavily armed fighters was a reminder of the potential for chaos and havoc emerging seemingly out of nowhere. Members of the group planned to disguise themselves as pilgrims and kill as many clerics as possible. The cult's leader, who died in the battle, was identified as Dia Abdul Zahra Kadim, 37, from Hillah, south of Baghdad.
The Japan Times Weekly: Feb. 3, 2007 |
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