Wednesday February 22, 2006

Large explosion destroys golden dome of one of Iraq's most famous Shiite shrines

SAMARRA, Iraq (AP) - A large explosion Wednesday heavily damaged the golden dome of one of Iraq's most famous Shiite religious shrines, sending protesters pouring into the streets. It was the third major attack against Shiite targets in as many days.

Police believed some people may be buried under the debris after the 6:55 a.m. explosion at the Askariya mosque but there were no confirmed figures. The shrine contains the tombs of two revered Shiite imams, both descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, and is among Iraq's most sacred sites for Shiite Muslims.

The attack on such a major religious shrine threatened to enflame sectarian passions at a time when talks among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds on a new government have bogged down.

In Baghdad, National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie said armed men wearing special forces uniforms broke inside the shrine, seized the guards and planted explosives before fleeing.

He blamed religious zealots such as al-Qaida terror network and Ansar al-Sunnah, telling Al Arabiya television that the attack was an attempt "to pull Iraq toward civil war.''

The Sunni Endowment, a government organization that cares for Sunni mosques and shrines, condemned the blast and said it was sending a delegation to Samarra, 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, to investigate what happened.

In the capital, security was heightened around Sunni mosques in fear of reprisal attacks. Gunmen sprayed a Sunni mosque in Baghdad with automatic weapons fire Wednesday, police said. A street vendor was killed and another wounded in the attack, police said.

U.S. and Iraqi forces sealed off all streets leading to the main Sunni mosque in Baghdad, Abu Hanifa, in the mostly Sunni Azamiyah neighborhood.

Following the blast, U.S. and Iraqi forces surrounded the shrine and began searching houses in the area. Five police officers responsible for protecting the mosque were taken into custody, said Col. Bashar Abdullah, chief of police commandoes in Samarra.

Large protests erupted in Shiite parts of Baghdad and in cities throughout the Shiite heartland to the south.

In the Shiite holy city of Najaf, the country's most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, ordered seven days of mourning and called on Shiites to hold peaceful protests in their home provinces and not go to Samarra, aides said.

Residents of Najaf began closing their shops and were gathering in the city's 1920 Revolution Square for a demonstration to condemn the Samarra attack.

In Baghdad's Sadr City, thousands of Shiites, some brandishing Kalashnikov rifles, marched through the streets shouting anti-American slogans.

All mosques in the Shiite city of Diwaniyah, 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of Baghdad began broadcasting "Allahu akbar,'' or "God is Great'' from loudspeakers and urged people to turn out in the streets. All markets, shops and stores closed, police Maj. Muhammad Ali said.

In Samarra, thousands of demonstrators gathered near the shrine, waving Iraqi flags, Shiite religious banners and copies of the Muslim holy book, Quran. Shiite leaders in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood called for demonstrations against the blast.

"This criminal act aims at igniting civil strife,'' said Mahmoud al-Samarie, a 28-year-old builder who was among the crowd in this city 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad. "We demand an investigation so that the criminals who did this be punished. If the government fails to do so, then we will take arm and chase the people behind this attack.''

Religious leaders at other mosques and shrines throughout the city denounced the attack in statements read over loudspeakers from minarets.

President Jalal Talabani condemned the attack and called for restraint, saying the attack was designed to sabotage talks on a government of national unity following the Dec. 15 parliamentary election.

Talabani urged religious and political leaders to speak out strongly against the attack. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari urged all Iraqis to condemn the attack and urged both Muslim and Christian leaders abroad "to redouble their efforts to help the Iraqi government stop these saboteurs.''

The shrine attack followed a devastating car bomb late Tuesday in a Shiite corner of Baghdad, killing 22 people, according to police. The day before, 12 died in a suicide attack on a bus in the capital's heavily Shiite district of Kazimiyah.

Sunni Arabs have also accused the Shiite-led Interior Ministry of targeting Sunni civilians under the pretext of fighting the mostly Sunni insurgents. Extremists from both communities have staged tit-for-tat kidnappings and assassinations.

Tradition says the Askariya shrine, which draws Shiite pilgrims from throughout the Islamic world, is near the place where the last of the 12 Shiite imams, Mohammed al-Mahdi, disappeared. Al-Mahdi, known as the "hidden imam,'' was the son and grandson of the two imams buried in the Askariya shrine.

Shiites believe he is still alive and will return to restore justice to humanity. An attack at such an important religious shrine would constitute a grave assault on Shiite Islam at a time of rising sectarian tensions in Iraq. The shrine contains the tombs of the 10th and 11th imams, Ali al-Hadi who died in 868 A.D. and his son Hassan al-Askari who died in 874 A.D and was the father of the hidden imam.

The golden dome was completed in 1905.-AP

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