Najaf 'under control' after Iraqi forces defeat mystery fighters
The Iraqi government yesterday declared an end to major combat operations near Najaf, where US and Iraqi forces had fought hundreds of fighters from an obscure Islamic splinter group suspected of planning attacks on the Shia clerical establishment during today's Ashura celebrations in nearby Kerbala.
Defence ministry officials said 200 militants, including the cult's leader, had been killed in the fighting and 60 were wounded. The site of the battle, in an agricultural area north of Najaf, was said to be under the control of Iraqi security forces by early yesterday morning.
However, estimates for the number of dead and injured varied widely, as did information about the motives and membership of the previously unknown group, known as the Army of Heaven, which believes in the return of the Mahdi, a 9th century imam whose reappearance will signal a new world of justice and peace.
I think we were initially led to believe that these were 'insurgents' and not a bunch of Islamic style, David Koresh-type fanatics who happen to also be Shiites attacking other Shiites. What the fuck? Was this a training mission? The Guardian
