Five Dead in New Clashes in Iran
October 10, 2004
Agence France Presse
AFP
TEHRAN -- Three members of an obscure Shiite Muslim sect and two policemen have been killed in fresh clashes in northwestern Iran on Sunday, the student news agency ISNA reported Sunday.
The deaths occurred after members of the Ali-Alahi cult -- who were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles -- attacked a police headquarters in the region of Mian-Doab near the city of Mahabad.
The report, quoting provincial police spokesman Shahnam Rezaie, said several other people were injured.
On September 29, police in the area were attacked by the group in an incident that left three members of the cult and one policeman dead. The previous week news reports said two senior local police officials died in clashes in the same area.
The Ali-Allahi (roughly meaning "Ali is God") group has been described here as heretical. Imam Ali is considered by Shiite Muslims to have been the first successor of the Prophet Mohammed and their first imam, or spiritual leader, but the cult sees him as an incarnation of God.
A local official also told AFP the apparent leader of the cult, identified as Said Agha Nazem, was posing as the 12th Shiite Imam, Mahdi, who is known to Shiites as the "hidden Imam" after he disappeared in the year 873 AD.
Shiite Muslims believe Imam Mahdi will one day return to earth and bring with him justice and peace.
In recent months, followers of the Ali-Allahi group have held small protests in Tehran and in the central clerical capital of Qom.