Saturday, Aug 30, 2003
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NAJAF, Iraq, Aug. 29. A massive car bomb blast at Iraq's holiest Shia mosque on Friday killed over 75 people, including one of the country's most important Muslim clerics, and left about 140 injured. The bomb went off outside the Imam Ali mosque as thousands were pouring out after noon prayers. Hours after the blast there was still pandemonium as people screamed in the streets in grief and anger, and searched through the rubble for more victims. A group of men and women were pressing their hands and cheeks against the doors of the shrine, which had been closed after the blast. Among the 75 killed was Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim (in picture), who had just delivered a sermon calling for Iraqi unity and seeking Arab help to rebuild the country, witnesses told The Associated Press. Some mosaic tiles were blown off the shrine and a crater about three and a half wide was blasted out of the street at the front of the mosque. Cars near the blast were twisted hunks of metal. Nearby shops were piles of smoldering rubble. ``I saw Al-Hakim walk out of the shrine after his sermon and moments later there was a massive explosion. There were many dead bodies,'' said Abdul Amir Jassem, a 40-year-old merchant who was in the mosque. ``He was praying for Iraqi unity.'' ``Even the Americans didn't bomb us like this,'' screamed one woman through her tears. About 1,000 Al-Hakim followers demonstrated in front of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution headquarters in Sadr City. Some sat weeping on the ground; others shouted for revenge. ``We will not forget our Ayatollah Baqir al-Hakim,'' they chanted. One protester fired a pistol in the air and urged the crowd to search for the Saddam supporters and foreign fighters that he claimed were responsible for the carnage in Najaf. Al-Hakim was the spiritual and top leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq and had divided his time since the end of the war between Tehran and Najaf, the holiest Shia Muslim city in Iraq. The leader of the Iraqi National Congress and Governing Council Member, Ahmad Chalabi, blamed the attack on the same group that carried out the August 19 suicide truck bombing at the U.N. headquarters in Iraq that killed at least 23 people and injured more than 100. However, he offered no evidence to support his claim. The Najaf attack comes less than a week after a bomb exploded outside the house another of Iraqi's leading Shia clerics, killing three guards and injuring 10 others, including family members. The cleric suffered only minor injuries. A gas cylinder was placed outside the home of Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim in Najaf. It exploded just after noon prayers on August 24. Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim is related to the ayatollah who was killed today's attack. — AP
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