Mystery Arises Over Identity of Militia Chief in Najaf Fight
By DAMIEN CAVE
BAGHDAD, Jan. 31 — New questions arose Wednesday about the sectarian identity of the man who led a renegade militia into battle last weekend against American and Iraqi troops near the holy city of Najaf.
At a news conference on Wednesday meant to clarify details of the skirmishes, which left at least 250 militants dead, Iraqi officials declared that Ahmad bin al-Hassan al-Basri, identified as the leader of the militia, was actually a Sunni militant who had been able to take control of the militia group by masquerading as a Shiite. Gen. Qais Hamza al-Mamouri, chief of police for Babil Province, said that while Mr. Basri led a Shiite splinter group known as the “Soldiers of Heaven,” he was in fact an impostor from Zubair, a Sunni stronghold on the southwestern edge of Basra. He said the man’s real name was Ahmed Ismail Katte.
“He is a Wahhabi from a Sunni town,” General Hamza said, referring to the austere sect of radical Sunni Islam founded in Saudi Arabia. “His family is Sunni, and his family trained him to be Shiite.”
Two clerics from another renegade Shiite sect — loyal to Mahmoud al-Hassani al-Sarkhi, a Basri rival — offered the same assessment privately, lingering after the news conference in Hilla, about 50 miles north of Najaf, to confirm that Mr. Basri was not in fact one of their own.
But their only evidence seemed to be a link to Zubair. And after days of widely varying assertions from Iraqi officials regarding the number of battle casualties and the nationalities and beliefs of the militants, the claims about Mr. Basri only added to confusion about who exactly the Americans and Iraqis had fought in a long battle, beginning Sunday. >>>cont
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BAGHDAD, Jan. 31 — New questions arose Wednesday about the sectarian identity of the man who led a renegade militia into battle last weekend against American and Iraqi troops near the holy city of Najaf.
At a news conference on Wednesday meant to clarify details of the skirmishes, which left at least 250 militants dead, Iraqi officials declared that Ahmad bin al-Hassan al-Basri, identified as the leader of the militia, was actually a Sunni militant who had been able to take control of the militia group by masquerading as a Shiite. Gen. Qais Hamza al-Mamouri, chief of police for Babil Province, said that while Mr. Basri led a Shiite splinter group known as the “Soldiers of Heaven,” he was in fact an impostor from Zubair, a Sunni stronghold on the southwestern edge of Basra. He said the man’s real name was Ahmed Ismail Katte.
“He is a Wahhabi from a Sunni town,” General Hamza said, referring to the austere sect of radical Sunni Islam founded in Saudi Arabia. “His family is Sunni, and his family trained him to be Shiite.”
Two clerics from another renegade Shiite sect — loyal to Mahmoud al-Hassani al-Sarkhi, a Basri rival — offered the same assessment privately, lingering after the news conference in Hilla, about 50 miles north of Najaf, to confirm that Mr. Basri was not in fact one of their own.
But their only evidence seemed to be a link to Zubair. And after days of widely varying assertions from Iraqi officials regarding the number of battle casualties and the nationalities and beliefs of the militants, the claims about Mr. Basri only added to confusion about who exactly the Americans and Iraqis had fought in a long battle, beginning Sunday. >>>cont
LinkHere
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 4:15 PM
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