http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0129IraqSide0129.html
Rebels preparing for imam's second coming Joshua Partlow and Saad Sarhan Washington Post Jan. 29, 2007 12:00 AM BAGHDAD - The insurgents battling U.S. and Iraqi troops in southern Iraq on Sunday apparently call themselves the Soldiers of the Sky (or Heaven), and are driven by an apocalyptic vision of clearing the Earth of the depraved in preparation for the second coming of Mohammed al-Mahdi, a Shiite imam who disappeared in the 9th century, according to Ahmed Duaibel, a spokesman for the provincial government in Najaf. The prospect of insurgents lying in wait to attack Shiites illustrated the crisis between rival religious groups in Iraq, where extremists remain intent on undermining the religious and political order. U.S. military officials said the operation was ongoing in Najaf, and the clatter of gunfire and drone of aircraft was heard Sunday night. The governor of Najaf province, Assad Abu Gilel, said the group planned to attack pilgrims and shrines and to assassinate Shiite clerics at the peak of the religious holiday, called Ashura, which culminates Tuesday. "Imam Mahdi is among you," a voice on a loudspeaker could be heard by a Washington Post correspondent who spent the day at a checkpoint near the insurgents. "Fight until martyrdom." "Today's attack was designed to destroy all of Najaf, even the holy shrine of Imam Ali," said Duaibel, the Najaf spokesman, referring to one of the most revered Shiite shrines, near the offices of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. If successful, such an attack could surpass in significance the bombing at the Askariya shrine in Samarra last February that escalated sectarian killing in Iraq. The fighting began overnight when a police checkpoint near Najaf came under fire, leading the Iraqi police to the farms in the Zargaa area where the fighters had dug trenches and stockpiled weapons, said Lt. Rahim al-Fetlawi, a police officer in Najaf. The police who responded found themselves outgunned by the 350 to 400 insurgents entrenched there, said Col. Majid Rashid of the Iraqi army in Najaf. Reinforcements from the 8th Iraqi Army Division arrived along with U.S. helicopters and ground troops. Iraqi security forces maintain primary control of Najaf province, and U.S. forces do not have a full-time presence there. U.S. military units based in Baghdad responded to Najaf. "They saw that they needed some help and called in air support," a U.S. military official said on the condition of anonymity. "That's exactly what they're supposed to do." During the operation, a U.S. military helicopter based in Baghdad crashed, killing two soldiers, the military said. The military did not say whether the helicopter was shot down. A reporter saw the helicopter trailing smoke and circling before coming down in a field of dirt. Maj. Beshari al-Ghazali of the Iraqi army said that the helicopter was shot down and that another U.S. helicopter was hit. Iraqi officials said the insurgents were using shoulder-fired rockets, antiaircraft guns and Katyusha rockets. "The people we were fighting were highly capable, well trained and very good at street fighting," said Capt. Muthanna Ahmed, a spokesman of the neighboring Babil province police force. +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
