BAGHDAD, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The leader of an Iraqi cult who claimed to be the Mahdi, a messiah-like figure in Islam, was killed in a battle on Sunday near Najaf with hundreds of his followers, Iraq's national security minister said on Monday.

"He was killed," Shirwan al-Waeli told Reuters, saying the man was aged 40 and believed to be from the nearby Shi'ite city of Diwaniya.

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