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Gunmen kill Sistani aide in Iraq
BBC ^ | Friday, 1 July, 2005, 14:44 GMT 15:44 UK | staff

Posted on 07/01/2005 1:36:11 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

Gunmen kill Sistani aide in Iraq

Offices of Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari's Islamic Dawa Party in Baghdad after suicide attack

The bomber did not get close to the Dawa Party building, but killed one

An aide to Iraqi Shia spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has been shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

Police said Kamal Eddin al-Ghuraifi was killed in his car as he headed to Friday prayers. Four of his bodyguards were wounded in the attack.

It is the latest in a series of attacks on politicians in the capital.

A BBC correspondent in Baghdad said the attack was clearly designed to provoke the Shia community.

Earlier, a suicide bomber attacked the Baghdad offices of the Shia Islamic Dawa Party - to which Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari belongs.

The prime minister was not there and the car bomber did not get close to the building, although he did kill one guard.

On Thursday evening, gunmen attacked a shop run by a cousin of another senior politician, Mouffaq al-Roubaie. The cousin was killed, along with one of his employees and three customers.

The unrest followed the release of figures showing that Iraqi deaths in attacks fell in June, following one of the bloodiest months since Saddam Hussein was toppled in April 2003, the AFP news agency reports.

However, the US death toll was higher, the agency said.

Death threat

Separately, Iraqi insurgent groups have issued a death threat against a former government minister - Ayham al-Sammarai - who has formed a new Sunni group seeking to act as a bridge between the insurgents and the government.

The group would include people with links to the insurgency, and the clear aim was to create a channel for dialogue between the government and the insurgents, Mr Sammarai said.

But three insurgent groups have reacted angrily, saying they have no links with Mr Sammarai's organisation, and adding they had decided to kill him because of his claim to be the "mouthpiece of the resistance".

The three groups also denied taking part in talks between insurgents and US officials - which a British newspaper has reported have taken place - vowing they would only talk to the occupation forces with what they called the "language of weapons".



TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alghuraifi; alsistani; assassination; iraq

1 posted on 07/01/2005 1:36:11 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Iread the first three words and my heart skipped a beat...till I read the last three. Dangit!!!


2 posted on 07/01/2005 1:40:19 PM PDT by processing please hold (Islam and Christianity do not mix ----9-11 taught us that)
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To: pbrown

It's a good start though.


3 posted on 07/01/2005 1:51:59 PM PDT by Tempestuous
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To: Tempestuous
It's a good start though.

Yes, but...one of these days, one of these days...BOOM!!!

4 posted on 07/01/2005 1:56:10 PM PDT by processing please hold (Islam and Christianity do not mix ----9-11 taught us that)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I believe the time has come to use the Israeli tactic of targeting major Islamic leaders who are funding the insurgents. That punk in Syria needs to bite the dust.


5 posted on 07/01/2005 1:58:58 PM PDT by John Lenin (Liberalism: Where defeat is victory)
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To: pbrown; All

Good things can come from bad events.

At some point Sistani is going to quit trying to be the Shia nice guy, and when he does the Baathists among the Sunnis and the Al Queada guys might just as well vacate Iraq; because if that happens then the Shia will finally take their revenge, and we will stand back and let them if it comes to that.


6 posted on 07/01/2005 2:28:46 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: pbrown

Do you think it would be a good thing if Sistani was killed?


7 posted on 07/01/2005 3:10:16 PM PDT by ValenB4 ("Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets." - Isaac Asimov)
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To: Wuli
May be getting time to do something about the Sunni extremists:

From Winds of Change Blog:

Cordesman on Iraq, Part 3

8 posted on 07/01/2005 3:14:48 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (History is soon Forgotten,)
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To: ValenB4

Not right now. He's been one of the more moderate voices over there. It wouldn't bother me if al-sadr went though.


9 posted on 07/01/2005 3:23:28 PM PDT by moog
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To: ValenB4
Do you think it would be a good thing if Sistani was killed?

Yes.

10 posted on 07/01/2005 4:45:15 PM PDT by processing please hold (Islam and Christianity do not mix ----9-11 taught us that)
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To: All
PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!

I was mistaking Sistani...for Al-Sader.

It's Al-Sader, I want blown to smithereens.

11 posted on 07/01/2005 4:47:23 PM PDT by processing please hold (Islam and Christianity do not mix ----9-11 taught us that)
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To: pbrown; moog

Then you're delusional. If Sistani is killed, then we might as well just cut our losses and leave because the odds of success would go from the extremely unlikely to absolutely impossible.


12 posted on 07/01/2005 5:16:30 PM PDT by ValenB4 ("Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets." - Isaac Asimov)
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To: ValenB4

Check post #11.


13 posted on 07/01/2005 9:42:03 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (History is soon Forgotten,)
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To: ValenB4
Then you're delusional. If Sistani is killed, then we might as well just cut our losses and leave because the odds of success would go from the extremely unlikely to absolutely impossible.

Why am I delusional???? I agreed with you. Or did you have the delusions that I didn't???? The only thing I said is that I probably wouldn't mind al-sadr going, not Sistani. Please read my reply next time.

I do support the troops and the jobs that they are doing. They have done many good things that will never show up in the papers. They are doing what I am too wimpy to do so I have no reason to complain about them.

14 posted on 07/02/2005 1:22:13 AM PDT by moog
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To: moog; pbrown; Ernest_at_the_Beach

LOL. Not you, moog. I didn't see that pbrown had corrected himself. Have a nice weekend everyone.


15 posted on 07/02/2005 7:13:56 AM PDT by ValenB4 ("Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets." - Isaac Asimov)
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To: ValenB4
I didn't see that pbrown had corrected himself.

Herself. :-)

16 posted on 07/02/2005 7:21:58 AM PDT by processing please hold (Islam and Christianity do not mix ----9-11 taught us that)
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To: pbrown

Touche. :)


17 posted on 07/02/2005 7:25:30 AM PDT by ValenB4 ("Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets." - Isaac Asimov)
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To: ValenB4

That's okay:).


18 posted on 07/02/2005 7:27:55 AM PDT by moog
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