Sunni mosques attacked after Shiite shrine bombing
Two Sunni mosques were bombed in Iraq on Thursday in apparent reprisal for an attack on a revered Shiite shrine, sparking fears of fresh sectarian bloodletting despite appeals for calm.
Curfews were swiftly imposed in Baghdad and in Samarra, where suspected Al-Qaeda militants on Wednesday bombed the Al-Askari mosque, but at least six Sunni mosques have been attacked, including one in the capital.
The destruction of Samarra's two gold-covered minarets came after an initial attack on the shrine in 2006, also blamed on Al-Qaeda, sparked Sunni-Shiite reprisals that have claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Early Thursday, the Sunni mosques of Al-Mustafa in Iskandiriyah and Al-Bashir in Mahawil, both south of Baghdad, were bombed, Lieutenant Kamal al-Ameri of Hilla police told AFP.
Four other Sunni mosques -- three in Iskandiriyah and one in Baghdad -- were attacked on Wednesday, the latter despite imposition of a curfew in the capital that was due to be lifted on Saturday.
US President George W. Bush, who ordered tens of thousands more US troops onto Baghdad's streets to stem brutal sectarian murders started by the 2006 Samarra bombing, blamed the latest attack on Al-Qaeda.
He said the bombing was aimed at "inflaming sectarian tensions among the peoples of Iraq and defeating their aspirations for a secure, democratic and prosperous country."
Bush called "on all Iraqis to refrain from acts of vengeance and reject Al-Qaeda's scheme to sow hatred among the Iraqi people and to instead join together in fighting Al-Qaeda as the true enemy of a free and secure Iraq."
The February 2006 attack destroyed the golden dome of one of the world's holiest Shiite shrines where the faithful believe their 12th Imam, a messianic and mystical figure, disappeared in the 9th century.
The mosque houses the remains of the 10th and 11th Imams -- Ali al-Hadi and Hassan al-Askari -- buried in the house where they died in the ninth century and around which the shrine was built.
The interior ministry said an unspecified number of shrine guards had been arrested and were under investigation after reports that Samarra security forces were themselves involved in infighting shortly before the bombing.
Iraq's most senior Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani on Wednesday called for peace and urged the people not to follow the path of sectarianism," his office said.
For nearly 15 months now, Iraq has been battling the fiery sectarian conflict which has also delayed the prospect of the US withdrawing its troops from the violence-plagued country.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has launched a probe into Wednesday's bombing.
The interior ministry's director of operations Brigadier General Abdul Karim Khalaf, meanwhile, said a group of "terrorists" had been arrested, but did not specify whether they were suspected of bombing the shrine.
Most Baghdadis kept off the capital's streets on Thursday and key bridges over the Tigris river connecting the east and west of the city remained deserted.
US and Iraqi forces are currently deployed across Baghdad as part of Bush's "surge" strategy since February 11 to rein in the daily violence.
But on Wednesday, top US Democrats told Bush that the "surge" had failed.
In a letter to Bush, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the escalation "has failed to produce the intended results."
The larger US force "has had little impact in curbing the violence or fostering political reconciliation," the two leaders wrote.
"It has not enhanced America's national security. The unsettling reality is that instances of violence against Iraqis remain high and attacks on US forces have increased.
"In fact, the last two months of the war were the deadliest to date for US troops," they added.
AFP
