Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Rogue Mahdi Army commander killed in U.S.-Iraqi operation
Security
(RFE/RL) - The U.S. military announced on July 14 that Sa'id Jaf'ar, a rogue commander in radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militia, the Imam Al-Mahdi Army, was killed during a joint U.S.-Iraqi security operation in Baghdad on July 11. The military described Jaf'ar as having a "history of terrorizing the New Baghdad area by extorting money, kidnapping, and carrying out extrajudicial killings on innocent citizens." "As a commander of more than 120 fighters, his cell is responsible for engaging military and police forces with small-arms fire and emplacing explosively formed projectiles along travel routes," the U.S. military said in a statement.
The military also accused Jaf'ar of being a commander of a "special unit" with links to Iran. "Intelligence shows a clear link to his group partnering with outside Persian extremists, whose goal is to destroy the legitimate government of Iraq and create instability in the region," the statement said. The United States has repeatedly accused Tehran of training and arming Shi'ite militias in Iraq. On July 12, the U.S. military reported that its forces clashed with an "Iranian-backed militia" in the Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Amin.
Labels: Mahdi Army, Sa'id Jaf'ar
