Posted on 02/22/2006 5:17:01 AM PST by SJackson
Protesters rage; at least five Sunni mosques targeted in reprisal.
A large explosion Wednesday heavily damaged the golden dome of one of Iraq's most famous Shi'ite shrines, sending protesters into the streets and triggering reprisal attacks against Sunni mosques. It was the third major attack against Shi'ite targets in as many days.
Shi'ite leaders called for calm as reprisal attacks occurred against at least five Sunni mosques in the capital and two in Basra. About 500 soldiers from Iraq's 6th Division were sent to Sunni neighborhoods to prevent clashes between Shi'ites and Sunnis, army Capt. Jassim al-Wahash said.
No group claimed responsibility for the early morning attack on the Askariya shrine in this city 95 kilometers north of Baghdad. But suspicion fell on Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The Interior Ministry said four men, one wearing military uniform and three in black, entered the mosque early Wednesday and detonated two bombs, one of which collapsed the dome and damaged part of the northern wall of the shrine.
Police believed some people might be buried under the debris after the 6:55 a.m. explosion but there were no confirmed figures. The shrine contains the tombs of two revered Shi'ite imams, both descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, and is among Iraq's most sacred sites for Shi'ite Muslims.
The attack on such a major religious shrine threatened to enflame sectarian passions at a time when talks among Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds on a new government have bogged down.
In Baghdad, National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie 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 country's most revered Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, sent instructions to his followers forbidding attacks on Sunni mosques, especially the major ones in Baghdad. He called seven days of mourning, his aides said.
US and Iraqi forces sealed off all streets leading to the main Sunni mosque in Baghdad, Abu Hanifa, in the mostly Sunni Azamiyah neighborhood. 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 to investigate what happened.
Shi'ite leaders in surrounding countries, including Iran's most influential cleric body, the Qom Shi'ite Seminary, were also quick to respond.
"Ayatollahs in Qom have condemned the explosion and announced one day of public mourning," Hashem Hosseini, head of the seminary, told the state-run television.
Following the blast, US 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 Shi'ite parts of Baghdad and in cities throughout the Shi'ite heartland to the south.
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 the capital, the biggest attack against a Sunni mosque occurred in the Baladiyat area of eastern Baghdad, where about 40 Shi'ite militiamen sprayed the building with automatic fire. One street vendor was killed in another mosque attack.
Radical Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr cut short a visit to Lebanon and left by road for Syria, where he was expected to travel back to Iraq, Lebanese officials said.
In Samarra, thousands of demonstrators gathered near the shrine, waving Iraqi flags, Shi'ite religious banners and copies of the Muslim holy book, Koran.
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."
FWIW...five policemen that were "guarding" the mosque were taken into custody.
And if that doesn't work, they'll have to find something else to blow up. They have a lot to offer society, in the way of big explosions.
Yeah...Pope Urban tried it about 900 years ago I believe.
You got that right.
Those bombs were definitely powerful.
I agree.
Sistani has been a leader. He's kept his mouth shut and not inflamed emotions. He's got a lot of influence in the Shiite community and so far, it has showed.
Surrendering to Islam obviously will not work, they cannot even make peace with themselves.
Glow in the dark. Why else does Iran want 3000km range missiles from Russia? The Skuds they have now will reach Israel. But he who controls the rock at Mecca is the top of the dung heap in the Muslim world.
Time to put a double guard on the goat's butt!
I'm not sure whether it matters if Sadr was involved in this or not. If he was, he can be expected to put his militia into action against Sunnis. If he wasn't, he can be expected to his militia into action against the Sunnis.
Whether Sistani or the Iraqi Army can restrain him remains to be seen.
But then it might not.
Bad guys on both sides tried to ramp it up in April '04. Things did get very bad then, but the civil war they (and the media) wanted never materialized because cooler heads and a few bombs on Fallujah prevailed.
And if Sadr gets his you-know-what in a wad, that's even better.
I agree. Achams Razor applies here.
Very good analysis on AlSistani. He wields a great deal of power and seems to be a very rational man which is not a very common combination in this culture these days.
My first thought was along the line of A-10/GAU-8 -- but your recommendation makes better sense...
One might expect that some of the priests who tagged along on the Crusades had something like that in mind...
Of course, we're hoping this doesn't escalate, and with a couple of votes under their belts, maybe the general population has no appetite for a civil war.
We need to get the Saddam trial over with and him hanged. That will crush any continuing aspirations of the Ba'athists. And we need to catch Zarqawi and send him to Jordan where he's already under a death sentence.
And it wouldn't hurt if Sadr had an unfortunate accident.
It won't solve everything, but it would go a long way.
4 men one in a military uniform 9 was he wearing gold jewelry)
The A team
No, actually Sadar is attempting to ally with the Sunni extremists because he wants the US out NOW. The media is making him more important with their constant attention to him. As a matter of fact, I'd say the US media has done more to promote him (and as a result the Iranians) then anyone in Iraq. Sadar has almost completely taken over Basrah. When we went in Basrah was the most peaceful place in Iraq. The Brits allowed Sadar and his thugs to run wild and now the place is unrecognizable. The people live in total fear. The thing he fears more than anything is Allawi being appointed Minister of the Interior. Keep your eye out for what happens in the coming weeks when the cabinet is appointed.
Zarqawi and Sadr need to assume room temperature ASAP and Saddam needs to swing in one of the public squares where the general population can watch.
From our lips to God's ears.
Almost 1400 years.
They'll be blaming the Jews any minute now.
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