Violence Targeted at Shiites On Holy Day Kills 60 in Iraq

Samer Abu Kamar, shown in an Iraqi newspaper photo, led a messianic Shiite cult that plotted to attack Shiites in Najaf. (Saad Serhan - Ftwp)

After two days of varying estimates, Iraqi officials said Tuesday that 263 members of the group were killed in Sunday's battle. Provincial officials, who last month took control of security matters in Najaf province, said they acted on intelligence reports to thwart what they described as a plot to conduct a large-scale attack on Shiite leaders and shrines. Such an attack could have exacerbated sectarian violence in Iraq.

Iraqi officials said they were still sifting through conflicting accounts of the leader's background and motivation. The man, identified by a spokesman for the prime minister's office as Samer Abu Kamar, claimed to be the 12th imam, a messianic figure who Shiites believe will reemerge after a centuries-long disappearance to restore order and justice in a war-weary world.

Ahmad Diabel, a spokesman for the Najaf provincial government, said investigators believe that the group, known as the Soldiers of Heaven, received funding from al-Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni insurgent group that has often targeted Shiites.

"This is definitely a great victory for the security forces, especially in Najaf," Col. Ali Nomas Jerao, a spokesman for those forces, said Tuesday. He said the operation was the first under full Iraqi military control to defeat "terrorists in the mid-Euphrates area." U.S. air and ground units supported the Iraqi troops.

Iraqi investigators combed the destroyed village, walking among piles of charred corpses, ash and debris. They also began questioning about 500 men detained after the battle.

Abu Kamar, a Shiite, might have sought to target Shiite leaders because he saw them as a threat to his messianic claim, officials and a scholar said. Officials described his followers as uneducated people who might have been drawn to him as a symbol of hope and redemption.

In recent months, the group's members cut nearly all ties to the outside world, Iraqi officials said. The armed men planned to travel to Najaf on buses, in the guise of ordinary Shiite pilgrims observing Ashura, they said. The attack was probably intended to unfold Tuesday.

Sarhan reported from Najaf. Staff writer Joshua Partlow and special correspondents Naseer Nouri and Khalid Saffar in Baghdad contributed to this report.