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| Iraq |
| Earthly luxuries for Soldiers of Heaven near Najaf |
| 2007-01-31 |
| The ruins of the Soldiers of Heaven compound in Najaf yielded new evidence yesterday that the Shia religious cult had amassed huge wealth and weapons arsenals virtually under the noses of the Iraqi and US military forces. The airconditioned compound had the rare luxury of a large swimming pool, a fleet of new cars and trucks, a beauty parlour, and held a storehouse of weapons. US soldiers confiscated as much as $10 million in US currency from the compound, where the bodies of dead cultists littered the ground. The fanatical sect was largely wiped out on Sunday in a fierce battle on its land a few kilometres north of Najaf after military authorities said they had learned its members planned to attack worshippers and Iraq's leading Shia Muslim clerics during religious celebrations on Tuesday. Security forces and provincial authorities said 150 to 400 fighters had been killed, including the cult's leader, Ahmed Bin al-Hassani, who claimed to his followers to be the messenger of the "Hidden Imam" of Shia theology. The cult had no known connections to Iraq's many militias and insurgent groups. And an Iraqi police colonel said the authorities had not attacked the cult earlier because they thought it was affiliated with the anti-US rebel Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Many contradictions remain unexplained. A neighbour of the cult compound, Mohan Hameed, said the religious group began moving into the small farming area 8km north of Najaf 16 or 17 years ago. On Monday, the provincial governor said the group bought the farmland only months ago. Mr Hameed said that when the cult first moved in, its members told him they were fleeing tribal disputes in Babil province. Aside from the occasional brush with criminal authorities, "they were always on good terms with the residents of the area. They never bothered anyone". Corpses yesterday lay everywhere, contorted in death. The remains of three children and six women were visible among the heaps of uncollected dead. Ali Nomas, a spokesman for the security forces in Najaf, said 350 bodies had been collected in area hospitals. So far, he said, no one had claimed any of them. Cell phones in the pockets of the dead continue to ring. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 New cars? Swimming pool? BEAUTY PARLOR??? Gee Whiz, Mr. Wilson, Beaver and Maryanne, all I got was MRES/C-Rats and living off the land. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-01-31 22:15 |