Reply #2: I know.... wtf? -- "Supporters of Mahdi" [View All]

[Breeze54]

snip-->

Members of the cult, which calls itself the Supporters of Mahdi, mingled with the crowds
in at least three sections of Basra and in Nasiriya, then fired shots at worshipers and
the security forces, police and witnesses said.

Police said the cult's leader, Ahmed Hassan Yamani, was killed along with nearly 50 followers
in the fighting in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city. About 60 gunmen were arrested and large
quantities of weapons were seized from a mosque linked to the group, said the Basra police chief,
Maj. Gen. Abdul-Kareem Khalaf.

The Supporters of Mahdi is named after a ninth-century imam, considered by Shiites to be a saint
and the last of the prophet Muhammad's true heirs. Imam Mahdi went into hiding in 878, and Shiites
believe that he will return, along with Jesus, to lead Muslims in a struggle for justice.