Iraqi cult leader killed in Najaf battle, 200 dead

NAJAF: The leader of an Iraqi cult who claimed to be the Mahdi, a messiah-like figure in Islam, was killed in a battle on Sunday near Najaf with hundreds of his followers, Iraq's national security minister said yesterday.

Women and children who joined 600-700 of his "Soldiers of Heaven" on the outskirts of the Shi'ite holy city may be among the casualties, Shirwan al-Waeli told Reuters. All those people not killed were in detention, many of them wounded.

Iraqi troops, backed by US forces, confronted the group after learning it was planning an attack on the Shi'ite clerical establishment in Najaf yesterday.