Iraqis call for revenge
2006-02-22 12:39
Baghdad - Bombs wrecked the dome of a
major Shi'ite shrine in the Iraqi city of Samarra on Wednesday
in an apparent sectarian attack that sparked demonstrations and
calls for revenge by angry crowds.
The country's top Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali
al-Sistani, called for protests against the attack, and Prime
Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shi'ite Islamist, went live on
television to declare three days of mourning.
Jaafari, under pressure from the United States to bring
Sunni minority leaders into a coalition government to avert a
sectarian civil war, called for unity, describing the blasts as
an attack on all Muslims.
But protesters gathering in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf
vowed revenge for the attack, and National Security Adviser
Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, a Shi'ite, blamed the blast on Arab Sunni
militants inspired by al-Qaeda.
Local officials said there were no reports of casualties
after gunmen entered the Golden Mosque at dawn and set off
charges that destroyed the celebrated dome of one of the four
holiest Shi'ite sites in Iraq. The shrine is dedicated to the
Imam Ali al-Hadi and his son Hassan al-Askari.
Witnesses in the town and television footage showed the top
of the dome blown off and shattered masonry framed by two
slender minarets. A US military spokesperson described the
damage to the roof as "catastrophic".
Samarra, 100km north of Baghdad, has been a seat
of the Sunni Arab insurgency against a US-backed government
dominated by Shi'ite parties. Few Shi'ites live in the Sunni
city.
Calls for calm
Rubaie blamed Arab Sunni militants inspired by al-Qaeda for
the explosion, but appealed for calm: "They will fail to draw
the Iraqi people into civil war as they have failed in the
past," he told the Al Arabiya Arabic television channel.
He was later quoted by state television Iraqiya as saying 10
suspects had been arrested in Samarra. Police in the city said
officers fired over the heads of hundreds of demonstrators who
took to the streets after the explosion.
The Sunni Endowment, which oversees religious activity for
Sunni Muslims in Iraq, condemned the attack and called for calm.
In the holy city of Najaf, Sistani's office issued a
statement in which he declared seven days of mourning and urged
his followers to protest against the attack.
The aged Sistani has been credited by many Shi'ite political
leaders with restraining the religious majority, long oppressed
under Saddam Hussein, from responding with violence to repeated
attacks that have killed thousands of civilians.
But about 2 000 Shi'ites who began demonstrating in the
southern city of Najaf, the holiest site for Shi'ite Muslims,
were thirsting for revenge. "Rise up Shi'ites. Shi'ites take
revenge. Rise up Shi'ites. Rise up Shi'ites," they shouted.
- Reuters