- Title: IRAQ: SHI'ITE SHRINE BLOWN UP WEST OF BAGHDAD / ROADSIDE BOMB IN KERBALA
- Date: 21st December 2004
- Summary: (W3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (DECEMBER 21, 2004)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE/ PAN VIEW OF RUBBLE OF SHRINE 0.10 2. WIDE OF PILES OF DAMAGED CONCRETE/ PEOPLE SEARCHING 0.18 3. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE SEARCHING THROUGH RUBBLE 0.31 4. WIDE OF OUTER WALL OF SHRINE WITH RUBBLE OF CONCRETE SCATTERED OVER AREA 0.40 5. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) A
- Embargoed: 5th January 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAGHDAD, KERBALA, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVABA4HA3SQRT6QYVY564Z37WJBA
- Story Text: A Shi'ite shrine was blown up west of Baghdad as
four Iraqis were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in
the southern Shi'ite city of Kerbala.
A little known Shi'ite shrine west of Baghdad was
blown up on Monday (December 20).
The explosion reduced Shrine of Ibrahim bin Ali al-Hadi
to a pile of broken concrete and twisted construction metal.
It was not clear what caused the explosion, which took
place at about 1800 p.m. (1500 GMT). No casualties were
reported in the blast.
"This is meant to stoke a sectarian division, we do not
know who was behind it? Did the Israelis do it? We do not
know what this means. It is a sabotage act by Jewish, which
is meant to sow sectarian division among Muslims,"said Ali
Nouri Ismail, a resident of the area.
Meanwhile, a roadside bomb exploded on Monday (December
20) in Kerbala, briefly raising concerns of a copy-cat
strike.
The bomb exploded at a police checkpoint, damaging
nearby buildings, wounding four Iraqi passersby, none of
them seriously, police said.
The explosion took place a day after a devastating car
bomb attack, which killed 12 people and wounded 34 people.
Sunday's twin suicide car bombings killed 66 people in
Iraq's Shi'ite holy cities of Kerbala and Najaf,
intensified fears of sectarian violence during elections on
Jan. 30.
The attacks in the cities, both sacred to Iraq's 60
percent Shi'ite Muslim majority, came six weeks before the
election and appeared designed to provoke sectarian
conflict.
Shi'ites, oppressed for decades under Saddam and
before, are widely expected to top the poll at the expense
of Saddam's fellow long-dominant Sunni minority.
mc/jrc
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