Editing Dia Abdul Zahra Kadim (section)

==Death==
Abdul-Zahra Kadim was killed during a fierce gun [[Battle of Najaf (2007)|battle]] with [[United States Army|United States]], [[British Army|British]], and [[New Iraqi Army|New Iraqi]] army forces in Najaf on January 29, 2007. He was found wearing jeans, a coat, and a hat, in addition to being armed with two pistols. He was thirty-seven years old.

The footage appeared to show the body of Dia Abdul Zahra Kadim, wrapped in a blanket. His face, with a neatly trimmed beard, matched a photo in a pamphlet found at the site entitled "Holy Coming", which identified him as the Mahdi.<ref>[https://archive.today/20070424061503/http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=COL047091&WTmodLoc=World-R5-Alertnet-3 "Ashura blast kills at least 13 in Iraq"]. today.reuters.co.uk Reuters. January 30, 2007. </ref><ref>[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=BBAB&d_place=BBAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=1170221547C618D8&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM "BBC Monitoring International Reports: Ashura blast kills at least 13 in Iraq"]. BBC. January 30, 2007. {{registration required}}</ref>

Apparently, he had been claiming he was the [[Mahdi]], in efforts to hide his real identity and recruit new members to the cult.<ref>Senanayake, Sumedha (February 2, 2007). [http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1347487.html "Al-Najaf Mystery Reflects Iraqi Divisions"]. ''Reports Archive: Iraq Report'', Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.</ref><ref>[https://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070129/ts_nm/iraq_dc "Death toll rises"]. news.yahoo.com. January 29, 2007. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411031354/http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070129/ts_nm/iraq_dc |date=April 11, 2021 }}</ref>