BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A mysterious group of religious zealots who fought with American and Iraqi troops on Sunday were armed with AK-47 assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and five anti-aircraft machine guns rigged on tractors.
Their arsenal raised questions about how a group with no known ties to Iraq's current cast of political organizations came to be so well-equipped and trained.
"They fought according to a military arrangement, and they moved as platoons and companies," Abdul Hussein Abtan, the deputy governor of Najaf, said Monday.
Ali Nomas, a spokesman for the security forces in Najaf, said the militants, known as "the Soldiers of Heaven," numbered from 1,000 to 1,500. They purchased farms and surrounded them with a dirt barricade and a bulldozed trench. More than 2,000 AK-47 assault rifles and 700 rocket-propelled grenades were recovered after the battle, Nomas said.
The 24-hour battle ultimately was won by Iraqi troops supported by U.S. and British jets and American ground forces, but the ability of a splinter group little known in Iraq to rally hundreds of heavily armed fighters was a reminder of the potential for chaos emerging seemingly out of nowhere. Members of the group, which included women and children, planned to disguise themselves as pilgrims and kill as many leading clerics as possible.
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Among the 300 or so militants killed in Sunday's fighting was the group's leader, Iraqi authorities said. As many as 400 others were arrested, including some dressed as Afghan fighters, Iraqi spokesmen said. U.S. officials put the number of arrests at more than 100.
A U.S. helicopter was shot down, killing both crewmen.
Maj. Hussain Muhammed of the Iraqi army said some fighters escaped.
"We have information that a large number of fighters have escaped through the palm groves. Some were wearing the uniforms of the security forces and others were wearing black," Muhammed said.
Even in Iraq's violent brew of sectarian, political, tribal and ethnic factionalism, the explosive emergence of the Soldiers of Heaven stands apart as a reminder of how little understanding there is of the country's complex web of militias.
The group's leader, who was known by several names, including his birth name of Thiya Abdul Zahra Kathum al-Qarawi, believed he was the earthly representative of the "Hidden Imam" of Shiite theology, Mohammed al-Mahdi.
Police said Monday that al-Qarawi, who reportedly was born in 1969 in Hilla, planned to attack the Shiite commemoration of Ashura on Tuesday in the holy city of Karbala, an event expected to draw as many as 2 million pilgrims. Ashura is a commemoration of the 7th-century death of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.
Imam Hussein died in the battle of Karbala in A.D. 680. The battle cemented a schism in Islam between Shiites and Sunnis, a division that has spiraled in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and in particular since the Feb. 22, 2006 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra.
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Police said al-Qarawi's motive in planning the assault was to hasten the return of the Mahdi, an event that Shiite theology predicts will lead to peace, justice and the conversion of the world to Islam.
Sunni Muslims don't believe in the Hidden Imam, but the concept is a driving force in Shiite belief. Fiery anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr drew the name for his Mahdi Army militia from that theology.
In the absence of hard evidence about the group and its connections, Iraqis have been speculating wildly and contradictorily, asserting that they recognize elements of Shiite, Sunni and other influences among the militants.
Asad abu Kalal, the governor of Najaf, said as much himself in a news conference on Monday.
"In external form, the way they look is Shiite, but its reality is something else," Kalal said. "They meant to destroy the Shiite and kill the Grand Marjiyas and occupy the Holy Shrine of Imam Ali," he said. The Grand Marjiyas are the four leading ayatollahs in Najaf. They are led by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite cleric.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
