Iraqi police arrest Shiite cult members

Iraqi police on Wednesday announced the capture of a Shiite Muslim cult leader and four followers who they suspect were planning to attack worshipers celebrating a major Shiite holiday next week.

The members of the group Heaven’s Army were detained Tuesday a few miles east of Basra after authorities learned they would be in the area, a Basra police official said.

As many as 250 members of the cult died in January 2007 on the Shiite holiday of Ashura, in a battle with Iraqi and U.S. troops as the fighters were poised to stage an attack in the holy city of Najaf.

Arshad Dayem, a leader of the group, was among those arrested, the police official said.

Police said they confiscated maps and CDs containing plans for attacks in Basra, Karbala and other sites in Shiite-dominated southern provinces. Thousands of pilgrims are en route to Baghdad, Karbala, Najaf and Samarra for the holiday, which falls on Jan. 7 this year.

Heaven’s Army is one of several Shiite messianic cults. Most Muslims believe the Mahdi, a descendant of the prophet Muhammad, will appear with Jesus and establish peace and justice worldwide. Most Shiites believe the Mahdi is their 12th imam, who they say went into hiding in 878 and is still alive.

Last year, a cult called Supporters of the Mahdi clashed with Iraqi security forces in Basra and Nasiriya on Ashura, resulting in at least 80 deaths.

In the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday, a Sunni candidate in the upcoming provincial elections was assassinated. Police said Muwafaq Hamdani, with the Iraq is Ours slate, was walking in the city center when he was gunned down. One of his attackers was killed when Hamdani’s security guard returned fire.

As police chased them on foot through the neighborhood, the gunmen continued firing, killing an officer and wounding another.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s oil minister announced a second round of bidding to drill and develop the country’s oil fields. An earlier round, announced in June, was the first time since the 1970s that Iraq’s oil fields have been open to foreign companies. Iraq has not been able to increase production of oil because of poor infrastructure and security problems.

Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani said he hoped production would increase to 6 million barrels daily within 10 years, compared with its current 2.5 million barrels a day.

The Ministry of Health reported that 5,379 Iraqi civilians died violently in 2008 and 8,908 were injured. In addition, 572 police officers and 282 Iraqi soldiers were killed -- bringing the number of Iraqi deaths in 2008 to 6,233, down significantly from 2007, when 16,232 civilians, 1,300 police officers and 432 soldiers were killed.

Iraq Body Count, a nongovernmental organization that tracks violent civilian deaths, reported this week that about 25 Iraqis died violently each day in 2008 -- a total of more than 9,000 -- compared with the peak of 76 per day in 2006.

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kimi.yoshino@latimes.com