NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - The leader of a messianic Muslim cult was killed with 200 or more followers during a day-long onslaught by U.S. and Iraqi forces on their camp near the holy city of Najaf, Iraqi officials said on Monday.
They accused him of making a claiming to be the Mahdi, a messiah-like figure in Islam, and said his uniformed “Soldiers of Heaven” had planned to massacre top Shi’ite clerics during a major religious holiday on Monday and had to be stopped.
No account was available from the group targeted in one of the strangest episodes in four years of conflict.
MNF Iraq has been silent for a couple of days now. It could mean someone’s on leave, transferred out, a policy change, or that they’re very busy. If so, this battle is one reason, but I would suspect it is not the only one.
I did put this up on Terrorist Death Watch, but as an estimate 100 dead. Since our military has not commented yet, I’m playing it somewhat safe. It could turn out to be many fewer or many more but fewer sounds likely. This is a big deal for the Iraqi government and they have no reason not to report that they’re a killing ‘em in droves. We’ll see.
