Thousands mourn slain cleric

2003-09-03 08:19

Najaf, Iraq - Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shi'ites have turned out for the burial of a revered ayatollah, as senior US officials indicated Washington would seek a new United Nations Security Council resolution to expand the UN mandate in Iraq.

Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim was buried in the holy city of Najaf, where he was assassinated in a bombing on Friday, as a sea of men thumped their chests in unison, wailing laments for the ayatollah who died along with at least 82 others.

Wave after wave of mourners had marched the 15km from Kufah to the Najaf cemetery in blistering heat to accompany Hakim's coffin, shrouded in an Iraqi flag and a green banner, as the cleric's funeral procession approached its end after leaving Baghdad on Sunday.

By the grave, middle-aged men wept and Hakim's brother Abdel Aziz, who sits on the interim 25-member governing council, paid his final respects to the fallen leader.

Hakim was the spiritual head of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the main political party for Shi'ites, who are the largest community in Iraq but were systematically oppressed by Saddam Hussein's Sunni elite.

New mandate sought

Meanwhile, in Washington, senior US officials said the United States will seek a new UN Security Council resolution to expand the United Nations mandate in Iraq, making it easier for more countries to participate in the stabilisation force.

"We have worked out language through the inter-agency process," one official said, adding that a draft of the resolution - which will more fully define the UN role in post-war Iraq - would shortly be presented to Security Council members.

"We should be in a position to talk to other governments within days," the official said on condition of anonymity.

US President George W Bush agreed to go ahead with the new resolution after a White House meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had been pushing for the move, the official said.

Car bomb goes off

As Hakim's funeral was under way in Najaf, 180km south of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded at a police station in the capital, killing one officer and seriously injuring two others.

It went off next to the capital's top police academy and across the street from the police headquarters and interior ministry.

Police commander Bassel Ami said he believed the attack targeted Ahmad Ibrahim, the deputy interior minister, whose office is adjacent to the parking lot for stolen cars where the bomb exploded.

US overseer Paul Bremer vowed on Tuesday to swiftly expand the Iraqi police force to tackle the "terrorist threat" facing the country following the three deadly car bombings.

He said the US-led coalition already had a programme to boost police numbers from their current strength of just under 40 000 to between 65 000 and 70 000 which it now intended to step up.

Bremer stressed that the coalition had offered to boost its military presence around the holy sites in both Najaf and Karbala before Friday's blast but the offer had been turned down.

Bremer also pledged that the new Iraqi interim cabinet to be sworn in on Wednesday would enjoy real control over the running of government, even if ultimate sovereignty remained with the US-led occupation.

US troops killed

The US army meanwhile said two of its military police officers were killed and one wounded in a bomb attack south of the capital on Monday.

The deaths took to 67 the number of US soldiers killed in guerrilla attacks in Iraq since President George W Bush declared major operations over on May 1.

Two American soldiers were also wounded early on Tuesday when their vehicle hit an explosive device in the flashpoint town of Fallujah, 60km west of Baghdad.

And another soldier was killed and one injured on Tuesday in a helicopter accident near Baghdad. Seventy-nine soldiers have died in Iraq in accidents or other circumstances unrelated to combat since May 1.

Coalition forces here say the daily attacks they face are carried out by Saddam loyalists and other anti-American extremists.

Sabotage attacks are also frequently carried out on vital infrastructure.

Bremer confirmed that an attack on Saturday on a feeder pipeline from northern oilfields to the main export line through Turkey was the work of saboteurs.

"It will take some weeks to repair," he told reporters.

Bremer said Iraq was still losing $7-million a day in oil revenues as a result of a previous attack that shut down the main export line to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

- AFP