<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Iraq: 250 insurgents die as battle rages
This is a big number. One day major Sunni loss.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Mudy, one paper reported the same (250 militants killed) in Najaf on 29 Jan: US, Iraqi forces kill 250 militants in Najaf
But news report of a day later ('30 Jan') says <i>at least 300</i> militants killed, also in Najaf:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cf...jectid=10421499
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Video: US, Iraqi troops kill Iraqi cult leader, at least 300 militants</b>
Tuesday January 30, 2007
By Khaled Farhan
Iraqi and U.S. forces take part in a joint military operation in Najaf.
Photo / Reuters
Watch Video: US, Iraqi troops kill Iraqi cult leader
NAJAF, Iraq - The leader of an Iraqi cult who claimed to be the Mahdi, a messiah-like figure in Islam, was killed in a battle yesterday near Najaf with hundreds of his followers, Iraq's national security minister said today.
Women and children who joined 600-700 of his "Soldiers of Heaven" on the outskirts of the Shi'ite holy city may be among the casualties, Shirwan al-Waeli told Reuters. All those people not killed were in detention, many of them wounded.
Iraqi troops, backed by US forces, confronted the group after learning <b>it was planning an attack on the Shi'ite clerical establishment in Najaf today.</b>
<b>"One of the signs of the coming of the Mahdi was to be the killing of the Ulema (hierarchy) in Najaf,"</b> Waeli said. "This was a perverse claim. No sane person could believe it."
Authorities have been on alert for days as hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite Muslims massed in the area to commemorate Ashura, the highpoint of their religious calendar, amid fears of attacks by Sunni Arab insurgents linked to al Qaeda.
But Sunday's battle involved <b>a group of a different sort, a cult which Iraqi officials said included both Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims as well as foreigners.</b>
"He claimed to be the Mahdi," Waeli said of the cult's leader, adding that he had used the full name Mahdi bin Ali bin Ali bin Abi Taleb, claiming descent from the Prophet Mohammad.
He was believed to be a 40-year-old from the nearby Shi'ite city of Diwaniya: "He was killed," Waeli said.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Mahdi means same as Messiah - a Semitic religious concept, shared by Arabian and Jewish people.
This 'Mahdi' was apparently easy to kill, probably not the mahdi after all. And he didn't bring down the Shi'ite clerical establishment (Shi'ite ulema?) during his life as his followers believed.
Hope no other terrorist religion is going to start up around this (historical, for a change) dude.
This is a big number. One day major Sunni loss.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Mudy, one paper reported the same (250 militants killed) in Najaf on 29 Jan: US, Iraqi forces kill 250 militants in Najaf
But news report of a day later ('30 Jan') says <i>at least 300</i> militants killed, also in Najaf:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cf...jectid=10421499
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Video: US, Iraqi troops kill Iraqi cult leader, at least 300 militants</b>
Tuesday January 30, 2007
By Khaled Farhan
Iraqi and U.S. forces take part in a joint military operation in Najaf.
Photo / Reuters
Watch Video: US, Iraqi troops kill Iraqi cult leader
NAJAF, Iraq - The leader of an Iraqi cult who claimed to be the Mahdi, a messiah-like figure in Islam, was killed in a battle yesterday near Najaf with hundreds of his followers, Iraq's national security minister said today.
Women and children who joined 600-700 of his "Soldiers of Heaven" on the outskirts of the Shi'ite holy city may be among the casualties, Shirwan al-Waeli told Reuters. All those people not killed were in detention, many of them wounded.
Iraqi troops, backed by US forces, confronted the group after learning <b>it was planning an attack on the Shi'ite clerical establishment in Najaf today.</b>
<b>"One of the signs of the coming of the Mahdi was to be the killing of the Ulema (hierarchy) in Najaf,"</b> Waeli said. "This was a perverse claim. No sane person could believe it."
Authorities have been on alert for days as hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite Muslims massed in the area to commemorate Ashura, the highpoint of their religious calendar, amid fears of attacks by Sunni Arab insurgents linked to al Qaeda.
But Sunday's battle involved <b>a group of a different sort, a cult which Iraqi officials said included both Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims as well as foreigners.</b>
"He claimed to be the Mahdi," Waeli said of the cult's leader, adding that he had used the full name Mahdi bin Ali bin Ali bin Abi Taleb, claiming descent from the Prophet Mohammad.
He was believed to be a 40-year-old from the nearby Shi'ite city of Diwaniya: "He was killed," Waeli said.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Mahdi means same as Messiah - a Semitic religious concept, shared by Arabian and Jewish people.
This 'Mahdi' was apparently easy to kill, probably not the mahdi after all. And he didn't bring down the Shi'ite clerical establishment (Shi'ite ulema?) during his life as his followers believed.
Hope no other terrorist religion is going to start up around this (historical, for a change) dude.