This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L HILLAH 000003 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  1/6/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KISL IZ
SUBJECT: NAJAF SADRISTS SUGGEST RESPONSIBILITY FOR KILLING CLERIC; 
MORTARS HIT NEAR AL-HAKIM COMPOUN, 2005D 
 
REF: HILLAH  05-0384 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: ALFRED FONTENEAU, REGIONAL COORDINATOR, REO, 
AL-HILLAH, STATE. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Flyers distributed from the offices of Moqtada 
Al-Sadr in Najaf and Kufa and from his compound in Najaf 
beginning on January 4 boast that a group called the "Battalions 
of Imam Mousa Al-Sadr" carried out the December 26 assassination 
of Shaykh Fattah Al-Thabhawi, a mid-level cleric associated with 
both Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani and the Supreme Council for 
the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI.) In a separate incident 
on January 5, mortars landing near the Najaf compound of 
Ayatollah Mohammed Saeed Al-Hakim injured three bystanders. End 
summary. 
 
¶2. (C) Flyers available in the Najaf and Kufa offices of Moqtada 
Al-Sadr and at his Najaf compound beginning on January 4 appear 
to offer a claim of responsibility for the December 26 
assassination of Shaykh Fattah Al-Thabhawi, a mid-level cleric 
affiliated with both Sistani and SCIRI (reftel.) The flyers, 
headlined "The Islamic Iraqi Resistance," announce that they 
were published by "The Battalions of Imam Mousa Al-Sadr for the 
Vengeance of the Religious Mujahid Hawza." (Note: Mousa Al-Sadr 
was a Lebanese Shi'a leader who formed the Amal Movement in 
Lebanon but disappeared in Tripoli, Libya in 1978. End note.) 
 
¶3. (C) The flyers appear to read as both an announcement of the 
previously unheard-of group's existence and as a claim of 
responsibility for the killing of Al-Thabhawi. The flyers read, 
"We executed a spy who was working for one of the traitor 
militias in Najaf since he confessed that he was working with 
the invaders (a reference to Coalition Forces) to disgrace the 
reputation of the Mujahid Hawza in Najaf." While Al-Thabhawi is 
not named in the flyer, his recent, high-profile murder was 
accompanied by rumors, according to SET Najaf local staff, that 
he had been responsible for providing information about wanted 
terrorists to the Iraqi Police (IP) and Coalition Forces. The 
flyers also reference IP raids on the home and office of 
Ayatollah Ahmed Al-Hassani Al-Baghdadi, a Sadrist cleric, which 
took place in the wake of Al-Thabhawi's killing. The flyers 
threaten further killings against "invaders and spies" who 
threaten Iraq. 
 
¶4. (C) On January 5, IP contacts reported that two mortar shells 
landed just outside the Najaf compound of Mohammed Saeed 
Al-Hakim, a cousin of the father of SCIRI Leader Abdul Aziz 
Al-Hakim. The shells struck a car and a residence, badly 
wounding two adults and a child. The wounded were taken to 
Al-Hakim Hospital and the IP sealed the area and began searching 
for the attackers. 
 
¶5. (C) Comment: While SET Najaf local staff and other Najaf 
contacts report no previous knowledge of the group mentioned on 
the flyers, the fact that the flyers were distributed from 
offices and the compound of Moqtada Al-Sadr would seem to 
suggest that there is at least tacit Sadrist support for 
Al-Thabhawi's killing. That the group apparently responsible for 
the flyer also mentioned the raids against Al-Baghdadi, which 
Sadr himself condemned and which sparked a Sadrist demonstration 
in downtown Najaf, might also suggest at least a tenuous 
connection between Sadr and the "Mousa Al-Sadr Battalion." 
Further, the name of the group, which includes the label 
"Mujahid Hawza," is reminiscent of the term "Speaking Hawza," a 
name which Sadr frequently uses in reference to his following. 
End comment. 
 
FONTENEAU