Iraq Tightens Noose on Shiite Cult

Iraq Tightens Noose on Shiite Cult
Deutsche Presse-Agentur | January 22, 2008

Baghdad -- Iraqi authorities launched more raids Monday in various parts of southern Iraq and rounded up 249 suspected members of a Shiite cult blamed for an outbreak of violence over the weekend, security officials said.

In a preemptive operation in Karbala, security forces rounded up nine suspects believed to be linked to a fringe Shiite group known as Soldiers of Heaven, a spokesman for the Karbala police department, Rahman Mashawi, told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

Security officials had earlier blamed Soldiers of Heaven for the outbreak of violence in Basra and Ziqar, which left at least 97 people dead and 217 injured on Friday and Saturday, VOI reported.

Earlier, security forces rounded up 140 people in Basra and 100 in Ziqar in connection with the clashes.

Among the detainees, who were arrested Sunday, are doctors, academics, engineers and traders but the majority were from poorer, uneducated classes, who were tempted to join the group in return for money and jobs, General Hussein Kamal from the intelligence department of the Ministry of Interior was quoted as saying by VOI.


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