Mystery deepens over 'militia' leader in Najaf battle, now labelled as a Sunni impostor

An Iraqi soldier displays a poster of the leader of what has variously been described as a group of pilgrims, a cult, or a militia

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.”

Read the rest at the NY Times

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