You have to read deep into to the story to begin to realize why this is so important: these are Shi'ite terrorists. Yeah, some Iraqi spokesman is keen to say that there were Sunnis in the terrorist death cult as well, but show me a Sunni that awaits the return of Muhammad al-Mahdi and I'll show you a Shia. In fact, it sounds to me that this so-called 'death cult', which wanted to kill pilgrims in an attempt to bring to pass the advent of the "hidden imam", isn't so very far off of the religious beliefs of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Hojjatieh sect.

The only caveat? I'd take that 200 killed figure with a grain of salt until there was confirmation by the U.S. Also, if that figure turns out to be true, I'll give it 24 hours before we start hearing about the Iraqi Waco........

UPDATE: Bill Roggio reports that there may really be Sunnis involved in this, and from al Qaeda. Also, body count may be over 300. But given that the Salafi, especially al Qaeda, now consider the Shia and Iran a greater threat than the U.S and Israel, it's hard to fathom such an allliance. But, stranger bedfellows have been made.... Breitbart

Iraqi officials said Monday that U.S.-backed Iraqi troops had targeted a religious cult called "Soldiers of Heaven" in a weekend battle that left 200 fighters dead, including the group's leader, near the Shiite holy city of Najaf. A military commander said hundreds of gunmen planned to disguise themselves as pilgrims and kill clerics on the holiest day of the Shiite calendar.

The Iraqi government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said the raid on Sunday in date-palm orchards on the city's outskirts was aimed against a group called the Jund al-Samaa, or Soldiers of Heaven, which appeared to have had links to Saddam Hussein loyalists and foreign fighters. Officials said the cult was hoping the violence it planned would force the return of the "hidden imam," a 9th-century Shiite saint who Shiites believe will come again to bring peace and justice to the world.

Both Mohammed al-Askari, the defense ministry spokesman, and an Iraqi military commander in charge of the Najaf area said 200 terrorists were killed and 60 wounded, lowering previous estimates. Maj. Gen. Othman al-Ghanemi, the commander of the 8th Division that is in charge of Najaf, said 150 had been captured, while al-Askari put that figure at 120.

Posted by: Rusty at 01:55 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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