0 Comments | Birmingham Post (England), The, April 8, 2006
Byline: By Daniel Billingham
Two suicide attackers wearing women’s cloaks blew themselves up yesterday in a Shiite mosque in northern Baghdad, killing at least 52 people and wounding scores.
It was the second major attack against Shiite targets in as many days.
The violence came as American Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad warned that Iraq faces the possibility of sectarian civil war if efforts to build a national unity government do not succeed.
He went on to say that such a conflict could affect the entire Middle East.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Falah al-Mohammedawi said the blasts occurred at the Buratha mosque, which is affiliated with the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the main Shiite party.
The attack occurred as worshippers were leaving at the end of Friday prayers, the main weekly religious service.
Earlier, the Interior Ministry cautioned people in Baghdad to avoid crowds near mosques and markets due to a car bomb threat.
A prominent Shiite politician, Jalal Eddin al-Sagheer, was among the worshippers but police said he was unhurt.
Rescuers carried the bodies from the mosque compound on wooden wheelbarrows and loaded them on to the back of pick-up trucks.
The Baghdad city council urged Iraqis to donate blood for the wounded.
On Thursday, a car bomb exploded 300 yards from the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf, the most sacred shrine in Iraq for Shiite Muslims.
Ten people were killed.
The attacks were likely to increase tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, already at a high level following the February 22 blast at a Shiite shrine in Samarra and reprisal killings.
That bombing triggered a war of reprisal attacks against Sunni mosques and clerics.
The Interior Ministry, which oversees police, said it received intelligence that insurgents were preparing to set off seven car bombs in Baghdad. Al-Mohammedawi said the alert will remain until the bombs are discovered and deactivated.
The statement also warned that legal measures would be taken against “any security official who fails to take the necessary procedures to foil any terrorist attack in his area”.
Khalilzad, meanwhile, said political contacts among Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders were improving, but that within the general population, “polarisation along sectarian lines” was intensifying, in part due to the role of armed militias.
He warned that “a sectarian war in Iraq” could draw in neighbouring countries, “affecting the entire region”.
“That’s a possibility if we don’t do everything we can to make this country work,” Khalilzad said.
“What’s happening here has huge implications for the region and the world.”
He said the best way to prevent such a conflict was to form a government including representatives of all groups.
That effort has stalled over Sunni and Kurdish opposition to the Shiite candidate to lead the government, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
Khalilzad avoided any criticism of al-Jaafari.
He said there were many competent Iraqis capable of leading the government “and Prime Minister al-Jaafari certainly is one of them”.
INTERNATIONAL: Bombers kill 52 in mosque
INTERNATIONAL: Bombers kill 52 in mosque
0 Comments | Birmingham Post (England), The, April 8, 2006
Byline: By Daniel Billingham
Two suicide attackers wearing women’s cloaks blew themselves up yesterday in a Shiite mosque in northern Baghdad, killing at least 52 people and wounding scores.
It was the second major attack against Shiite targets in as many days.
The violence came as American Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad warned that Iraq faces the possibility of sectarian civil war if efforts to build a national unity government do not succeed.
He went on to say that such a conflict could affect the entire Middle East.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Falah al-Mohammedawi said the blasts occurred at the Buratha mosque, which is affiliated with the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the main Shiite party.
The attack occurred as worshippers were leaving at the end of Friday prayers, the main weekly religious service.
Earlier, the Interior Ministry cautioned people in Baghdad to avoid crowds near mosques and markets due to a car bomb threat.
A prominent Shiite politician, Jalal Eddin al-Sagheer, was among the worshippers but police said he was unhurt.
Rescuers carried the bodies from the mosque compound on wooden wheelbarrows and loaded them on to the back of pick-up trucks.
The Baghdad city council urged Iraqis to donate blood for the wounded.
On Thursday, a car bomb exploded 300 yards from the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf, the most sacred shrine in Iraq for Shiite Muslims.
Ten people were killed.
The attacks were likely to increase tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, already at a high level following the February 22 blast at a Shiite shrine in Samarra and reprisal killings.
That bombing triggered a war of reprisal attacks against Sunni mosques and clerics.
The Interior Ministry, which oversees police, said it received intelligence that insurgents were preparing to set off seven car bombs in Baghdad. Al-Mohammedawi said the alert will remain until the bombs are discovered and deactivated.
The statement also warned that legal measures would be taken against “any security official who fails to take the necessary procedures to foil any terrorist attack in his area”.
Khalilzad, meanwhile, said political contacts among Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders were improving, but that within the general population, “polarisation along sectarian lines” was intensifying, in part due to the role of armed militias.
He warned that “a sectarian war in Iraq” could draw in neighbouring countries, “affecting the entire region”.
“That’s a possibility if we don’t do everything we can to make this country work,” Khalilzad said.
“What’s happening here has huge implications for the region and the world.”
He said the best way to prevent such a conflict was to form a government including representatives of all groups.
That effort has stalled over Sunni and Kurdish opposition to the Shiite candidate to lead the government, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
Khalilzad avoided any criticism of al-Jaafari.
He said there were many competent Iraqis capable of leading the government “and Prime Minister al-Jaafari certainly is one of them”.
affiliate cloaking