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Efforts on to pull back Iraq from the brink of civil war

Atul Aneja

Leaders call for calm; Sunni front pulls out of talks with Shias

DUBAI: Hoping to prevent a full-scale civil war, Iraqi authorities have imposed a daytime curfew in four provinces affected by sectarian violence amid appeals by prominent religious and political leaders for calm. Night-time curfew imposed during the last two years was extended till 4 p.m. local time in Baghdad and Diyala, Salaheddin and Babil provinces. Civilian flights from Baghdad airport have been cancelled.

There has been relative calm in Iraq after nearly 140 persons were killed on Thursday in sectarian violence that followed the destruction of the golden dome of the historic Shia mosque in Samarra a day before. Twelve bodies were recovered in Baghdad subsequently, and gunmen reportedly killed three Shias in the town of Latifiya, south of the Iraqi capital. With country on the brink of a civil war, religious leaders have been calling for solidarity between the majority Shia and Sunni communities.

Saddam loyalists blamed

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the Shia leader of the influential Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), said in a statement that those who carried out the Wednesday bombing at the Al-Askari shrine in Samarra "do not represent the Sunnis in Iraq." He, instead, accused loyalists of former President Saddam Hussein and followers of Al-Qaeda for the atrocity. "We call for self-restraint and not to be dragged by the plots of the enemy of Iraq." The leader of the Friday prayers at Baghdad's Sunni Abu Hanifa mosque also expressed similar sentiments. Imam Ahmed Hasan al-Taha denounced the attack in Samarra, describing it as a conspiracy to draw Iraqis into sectarian clashes.

A large number of people were expected to attend joint Shia-Sunni prayers at the Al-Askari shrine in Samarra, which had been attacked. Nearly 10,000 persons also gathered at Basra's Al-Adillah mosque, where a representative of Iraq's top Shia spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, called for a combined prayer service. But striking a discordant note, the Sunni Iraqi Accord Front, which had contested recent parliamentary elections and won several seats, has pulled out of talks with Shias and Kurds to form a national unity government.

Sunni groups also boycotted across-the-board talks convened by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to tide over the present crisis. Meanwhile, the Associated Press quoted a Western official as saying that there had been discussions to rebuild the shrine in Samarra, as it would, in its present state, become a "lasting provocation." Italy, on Thursday, offered to rebuild the dome in order to combat "fanaticism."

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