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Baghdad: The emergence of the radical Shiite organisation Ansar Al Mahdi has raised many questions among Shiite political groups. They include its size and number of supporters in Iraq and abroad and whether the group is part of the "Heaven's Army" organisation or a separate extremist religious organisation.
The group's emergence has also raised fears of possible security outbreaks in Shiite southern provinces, especially after the bloody events in Basra and Nasiriyah.
"The Ansar Al Mahdi organisation led by Abu Hassan Al Yamani was established in 1998 and led by Al Yamani himself, whose real name is Ahmad Esmail Gate'a Al Siamer, an engineering graduate who later studied Sharia and fiqh science," said Mohan Al Fahad Al Fareji, Basra chief commander in a statement to Gulf News.
"Al Yamani is an Iraqi citizen from Basra, he used the Al Mahdi name to recruit people," he added.
The Iraqi military official said that most of those recruited for the Al Yamani organisation are unemployed and poor people and many are illiterate.
Al Fareji said about 10 out of 250 are educated, adding that hundreds of Ansar Al Mahdi members are gunmen from Basra and other southern provinces and that Al Yamani is hiding in Najaf or a province close to it.
Strict measures
He added: "Large numbers of this extremist organisation moved from the centre of Basra to its outskirts and suburbs and the Iraqi forces are determined to chase them and eliminate this group".
Al Fareji accused internal and external parties of supporting and financing the Ansar Al Mahdi organisation led by Al Yamani but he did not identify these parties due to confidential ongoing investigations.
Meanwhile, security sources close to the army chief in Najaf, Major General Abdul Kareem Al Maiahi, told Gulf News: "We think that Al Yamani is planning to assassinate Shiite clerics and religious authorities in Najaf and Karbala. The latest attempt to assassinate the Al Sistani representative, Shaikh Abdul Mahdi Al Karbalai, was planned by Al Yamani".
The Iraqi government has taken strict security measures in Najaf and Karbala and has also imposed special security escorts on religious symbols in the two Shiite holy cities.
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