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Iraq cancels police, army leaves and curfew hours extended in Baghdad
Iraqi Shiites bent on retribution rampaged against Sunni Arabs up and down the country Wednesday, Feb. 22, after bombers destroyed the gold dome of the 1,200-year old Askariya shrine in Samarra. The attack against one of four Shiite holy places has brought the country to the brink of sectarian civil war. More than 100 Sunni mosques were destroyed. DEBKAfiles sources: The bombing was carried out by a small squad trained by Abu Musab al Zarqawi especially for the operation. Four-to-six men entered the Askariya mosque Tuesday night and placed explosive charges around the interior of the gold dome so as to bring it crashing down on the sacred tombs below. Samarra police have made 10 arrests, among them foreigners, as would be typical of al Qaeda. Shortly after the disaster in Samarra, Irans spiritual leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, in contrast to the US presidents effort to calm the flames, accused US forces and Israeli intelligence of responsibility. The Islamic republic is quite willing to exploit the destruction of a Shiite shrine to fuel the fire of sectarian conflict, in the hope of expediting the US forces exit from Iraq. The thousands of Iranian agents operating clandestinely in Iraq can be expected to aggravate civil strife in Iraq by agitation and leading attacks on Sunnis. Some Shiite leaders blamed the United States for not protecting their shrine and are demanding a bigger security role for religious militias. But voices were also raised in an attempt to pull the country back from the brink: US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad warned the bombings were a deliberate provocation to foment sectarian tension and civil war. Key Sunni groups condemned the destruction of the Shiite mosques dome. The Sunni clerical association of Muslim Scholars called the bombing a criminal act. Posted by: lotp 2006-02-23 |
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