The destroyed Shiite Imam al-Askari
shrine in the restive city of Samarra, north of Baghdad. Suspected
Al-Qaeda militants blew up the two minarets of a revered Shiite shrine in
the Iraqi town of Samarra on Wednesday. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)
BAGHDAD,
June 13 (Xinhua) -- Insurgents blew up two minarets of a most revered Shiite
shrine in Samarra City, some 120 km north of Baghdad, on Wednesday morning,
raising fears over escalation of the sectarian violence between Shiites and
Sunnis in Iraq.
Unidentified insurgents destroyed with explosives
at about 9 a.m. (0500 GMT) two minarets of the Imam Ali al-Hadi shrine,
whose Golden Dome was destroyed in February 2006 which triggered a wave of retaliatory
sectarian violence, a local policeman told Xinhua by telephone.
Earlier, several mortar rounds landed near the two
shrines, but no casualties and damages were reported immediately, the source
said.
Shortly after the attack, hundreds of local residents
in Samarra City took to streets to protest before a curfew was imposed.
It was unclear exactly how the minarets had been destroyed, because the
shrine is heavily guarded by the police.
Local media reported that insurgents clashed with the police for several
hours and some insurgents managed to plant bombs near the minarets and blew them
up. However, the U.S. military said the policemen guarding the mosque were
detained and evidence show that the attack was an inside job.
Both the U.S. and Iraqi governments accused al-Qaida
militants of launching the attack.
U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, and the U.S.
military top commander General David Petraeus, said in a joint statement that
"this is a deliberate attempt by al-Qaida to sow dissent and inflame sectarian
strife among the people of Iraq to obstruct the peaceful political and economic
development of a democratic Iraq."
In a televised speech, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki also blamed al-Qaida for the attack and called on Iraqis to unite.
Fearing further violence, the prime minister imposed
a curfew in the capital starting from 3 p.m. until further notice.
Iraq's top Shiite religious leader Grand Ayatollah
Ali al-Sistani, urged Shiites not to carry out reprisal attacks against Sunnis.
Iraq's radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called
for three days of mourning and calm and peaceful demonstrations for the
destruction of the two minarets.
However, Sadr's political bloc with 30 lawmakers
decided to suspend its membership in parliament following the attack "until the
Iraqi government takes strong measures to reconstruct all the Sunni and Shiite
shrines, especially the Shiite shrine in Samarra."
On Feb. 22, 2006, the Shiite shrine of Ali al-Hadi,
also called the Golden Mosque, was attacked with a bomb, with its 100-year-old
Golden Dome badly damaged.
The shrine of Ali al-Hadi is one of the four most
revered Shiite shrines in Iraq. It contains the tombs of Ali al-Hadi, who died in
868 A.D., and Hisson Hassan al-Askari who died in 874 A.D.
The two are the 10th and 11th of the Shiite's 12
most revered Imams. Shiite pilgrims visited the shrine from all over the world.
Last year's destruction of the golden-domed mosque
enraged Shiites, particularly Shiite militia that have been on a rampage of
revenge killing ever since. Sunnis have fought back with equal vengeance.
Thousands of Iraqi citizens have been killed because
of their sects, which pushes the war-torn country to the brink of civil war.
The latest attack immediately raised fears of a new
round of tit-for-tat attacks between rival sects, which probably will draw the
country into a full-scale civil war.
The attack also came at a very critical time for
Iraq. A major U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown in Baghdad, which aims at buying
space and time for Iraqi politicians to meet a series of benchmarks, has made no
tangible progress after nearly four months. On the political front, there are
also no sign of progress.
TEHRAN, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad on Wednesday condemned the bombing of a most revered Shiite shrine
in the northern Iraqi city of Samarra and urged the U.S.-led "occupiers" to
withdraw from the violence-torn country.
"Unfortunately, under the aegis of the occupiers, the
terrorists have once again bombed the holy shrine in Samarra and desecrated the
sacred site," Ahmadinejad was quoted by the state-run Press TV website as
saying. Full story
WASHINGTON, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The United States
condemned Wednesday the bombing of the most revered Shiite shrine in the
northern Iraqi city of Samarra, and urged Iraqis to unite to fight against
extremists.
"Now is the time for all Iraqis to come together to
defeat the extremists who offer nothing but death and destruction," national
security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said of the attack. Full story
UNITED NATIONS, June 13 (Xinhua) -- UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday condemned the bombing of two holy
shrines in Samarra, Iraq, calling for ending the "vicious cycle of revenge."
"The secretary-general was deeply shocked to learn of
today's destructive attack on the holy Shrines of Imam Ali Al-Hadi and Imam
Hassan Al-Askary in Samarra, which follows a similar attack in 2006," Ban's
spokesperson Michele Montas said in a statement. Full story
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