Eighty Dead in Iraqi Bloodshed [View All]

Los Angeles Times
Saturday 19 January 2008



Baghdad - Members of an obscure messianic cult fought Iraqi security forces Friday in two southern cities, leaving at least 80 people dead and scores injured, while spreading panic among worshipers marking Shiite Islam's most important holiday.

Members of the cult, which calls itself the Supporters of the Mahdi, mingled with the crowds in at least three sections of Basra and in Nasiriya, then fired shots at worshipers and the security forces, police and witnesses said.

Police said the cult's leader, Ahmed Hassan, who called himself "the Yemeni," was killed along with nearly 50 of his followers in the fighting in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city. About 60 gunmen were arrested and large quantities of weapons were seized from a mosque linked to the group, said the Basra police chief, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Kareem Khalaf.

About 20 gunmen were killed in Nasiriya, police said. At least 10 policemen in Nasiriya and four in Basra also died, and at least 90 people were injured in the two cities, they said.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's office said the sect's gunmen targeted government buildings in Basra and a police special forces unit in Nasiriya, whose commander was killed.


In Nasiriya, residents reported hearing mortar blasts and gun and rocket-propelled-grenade fire well into the night.

"The situation in Nasiriya is really concerning and frightening," said Naeem Enad, a college student hunkered down in his home as shots echoed in the distance. "I heard from one of the rapid response individuals that they are not more than 100 people, however their creed is to fight to the death . . ."

report: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011908Y.shtml