Reuters: US military still probing Iraqi cult battle [View All]

US military still probing Iraqi cult battle
02 Feb 2007 14:43:37 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Ross Colvin

BAGHDAD, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Friday it was still investigating
who its troops and Iraq's security forces fought last weekend in clashes in which hundreds
of people were killed.

The Iraqi government's account of the battle near the holy city of Najaf has generated
conspiracy theories among bloggers sceptical of its suggestion that those killed were
members of a messianic Muslim cult plotting to kill top Shi'ite clerics.

"We are investigating who we engaged there. We are not going to say anything as there is
still an ongoing investigation," U.S. military spokesman Major Steven Lamb told Reuters,
adding that this was standard practice after any major engagement.

But a week after the battle amid orchards and houses north of Najaf, mystery shrouds exactly
who the fighters were and what triggered the day-long battle in which a U.S. attack helicopter
was shot down, killing its two crew.

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