Posted on 04/24/2003 4:49:51 PM PDT by miltonim
Mob kills cleric who urged Muslim calm
Shooting of Khoei follows strife over status of Islamic shrine
NAJAF, Iraq - In one of the holiest mosques in this sacred Islamic city, an angry mob attacked and killed a pro-Western Shiite cleric Thursday, just days after he returned to the war-torn nation from exile in London to help with reconciliation.
Witnesses said Abdul Majid al Khoei was shot, stabbed and hacked to death. As many as three others also were killed.
The mob apparently was angered over who would get to control the Grand Imam Ali Mosque, a shrine to the Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law, who was murdered on the site 1,300 years ago in a dispute over the direction of Islam.
Khoei had come to Najaf to help restore order and to help coalition troops win support from residents. The U.S. military had hoped to capitalize on Khoei's intercession and had organized a media outing to Najaf, ferrying in two helicopters full of reporters. None was present at the killings.
Two days before he died, Khoei told Knight Ridder he and other religious leaders were negotiating to permit Saddam Hussein's loyalists to leave Najaf in return for safe passage out of the city.
Khoei had arrived in Najaf eight days earlier after 12 years in exile in London. His rapid return and strong U.S. backing for him sparked criticism from Shiite dissidents eager to wield power.
Khoei, whose age was varyingly given as 38 and 40, was a key aide to Iraq's leading Shiite leader, Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, who last week urged his followers not to hinder U.S. and British forces. His father was Sistani's predecessor.
An official at the charity foundation that Khoei headed in London said he was helping U.S.-led forces restore order to Najaf.
"He wasn't supposed to play an official role, but his duty was to keep the calmness and peace within the community," said the official, Fadhel Milani.
A meeting at the shrine turned violent shortly after Khoei arrived. This is an account from witnesses, family and officials:
On Thursday morning, Khoei and his aides went to the shrine to talk with mullahs, or religious teachers, about future control of the shrine. It had been supervised by Haider Roafee, a custodian appointed by Saddam, said Khoei's nephew, Jawad al Khoei, who lives in Iran's holy city of Qom.
Roafee was widely disliked because he was a member of Saddam's Ministry of Religion. But Khoei supported Roafee, arguing that his service to Hussein had been under duress.
Khoei and his aides had just gone into Roafee's office when a small group of Iraqis came into the shrine, chanting the name of an ayatollah murdered by Saddam's regime. The crowd soon swelled to between 200 and 300.
Once Khoei and Roafee came out of the office, shots were fired.
Khoei was shot several times and Roafee and two of Khoei's aides were stabbed to death, the nephew said. The mob dragged Khoei, still alive, outside to a shop, where they cut off several fingers and stabbed him to death.
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