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Clashes as Shia shrine is bombed

Atul Aneja

Spiritual leader calls for mourning; retaliatory attacks on 27 Sunni mosques

— PHOTO: AP

SHATTERED: The damage to the shrine following an explosion in Samarra, 95 km north of Baghdad on Wednesday.

DUBAI: Armed men on Wednesday bombed a thousand-year-old Shia shrine in the Iraqi city of Samarra, triggering a wave of angry protests that could inflame sectarian tensions and mobilise public opinion against American occupation.

In the dawn attack, the armed men blew up the famous golden dome of the Al-Askari shrine, which houses the tombs of two Shia Imams. The shrine is revered by Shias across the globe.

Iraq's top Shia spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, called for a week-long mourning. He urged his followers not to attack Sunnis or their holy sites. Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr cut short his visit to Lebanon on hearing about the event.

Despite the calls for restraint, militants attacked 27 Sunni mosques in Baghdad and burnt down two of them. Three Sunni clerics were also killed. Sectarian clashes were reported from other Iraqi cities also.

Jaafari denounces attack

In a televised address, Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari denounced the attack. He called for three days of mourning and urged Iraqis to "close the road to those who want to undermine national unity."

National Security Adviser Muwafaq al-Rubaie, who is also a Shia, blamed Sunni extremists for the attack, and said the strike had the hallmark of the Al-Qaeda. "They [the militants] will fail to draw the Iraqi people into [a] civil war."

The Al-Askari shrine is part of the Imam Ali Al-Hadi mausoleum, where the 10th and 11th Imams, believed to be direct descendants of Prophet Muhammed, were buried. Imam Ali Al-Hadi died in 868 A.D. and his son, Hassan Al-Askari, died in 874 A.D. In the Shia religious tradition, the shrine is close to the site where the last of the 12 Shia Imams, Mohammed Al-Mahdi, disappeared. The Shias believe that Al-Mahdi will return to restore justice to humanity. The golden dome of the shrine was completed in 1905.

Many feared buried

According to the Interior Ministry, the dome came crashing down after four men — one was wearing a military uniform and the others were dressed in black — entered the shrine and detonated explosives. The incident took place at 6.55 a.m. local time. It is feared that a number of people might have been buried under the rubble.

The attack set of a wave of protests across the country. In Najaf, the Shia spiritual epicentre, crowds gathered around the 1920 Revolution Square for a demonstration.

Occupation condemned

In Sadr city, the stronghold of cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, thousands of protesters condemned the American occupation, while in Diwaniyah, 128 km south of Baghdad, loudspeakers inside mosques urged people to gather on the streets. In Samarra, shops closed, and muezzins recited prayers and said: "God is great. Death to America, which brought us terrorism."

Protection for Sunni mosque

Fearing reprisals, the security forces cordoned of off entry routes to Baghdad's Abu Hanifa mosque, revered by Sunnis.

Outside Iraq, Iran's influential cleric body in the Qom seminarycondemned the explosion and called for a day of mourning.

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