IRAQ: AT LEAST THREE PEOPLE ARE INJURED AFTER UNKNOWN GUNMEN STORM A MOSQUE IN BAGHDAD

Record ID: 377075

  • Title: IRAQ: AT LEAST THREE PEOPLE ARE INJURED AFTER UNKNOWN GUNMEN STORM A MOSQUE IN BAGHDAD
  • Date: 5th September 2003
  • Summary: (W4) AL-SHA'B NEAR CENTRAL BAGHDAD, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 5, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF QUBA MOSQUE/ CU SIGN (2 SHOTS) 0.07 2. CU: IMPACT OF BULLETS ON DOOR OF THE MOSQUE 0.17 3. VARIOUS OF BULLET HOLES (3 SHOTS) 0.37 4. VARIOUS OF SECURITY FORCES (5 SHOTS) 1.03 5. VARIOUS OF WORSHIPPERS IN MOSQUE (5 SHOTS) 1.37 6. MV/
  • Embargoed: 20th September 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AL-SHA'B NEAR CENTRAL BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAE7NX2BIF57FLI3B4J0RD6MN9L
  • Story Text: Unknown gunmen have stormed a mosque in Baghdad,
    opening fire on worshippers and injuring three, according
    to an eyewitness.


    Gunmen sprayed a Sunni Muslim mosque with bullets,
    wounding three worshippers, in al-Sha'b near central
    Baghdad during dawn prayers on Friday (September 5),
    witnesses said.

    Residents said the attack on Quba mosque, in a mainly
    Shi'ite area of Baghdad, appeared intended to ferment
    conflict between Iraq's two Muslim communities.

    The incident underlined tensions between Iraq's Sunni
    minority and Shi'ite majority amid fears of a sectarian war
    in the power vacuum created by the ousting of Saddam
    Hussein.

    Saddam was a Sunni and oppressed the Shi'ites for
    decades, but now they aspire to power and occupy a majority
    of posts in the U.S.-appointed interim Iraqi authorities.

    About 40 worshippers were at the mosque when the
    attackers, thought to number three or four, pulled up in a
    vehicle, burst through the front gate and opened fire with
    assault rifles.

    Abdullah Waleed, son of the local sheikh or community
    leader said the gunmen entered the mosque and started
    shooting at random as they were listening to a lesson when.

    He said that people ran to hide but three were injured.

    One of the three was in a critical condition, but the
    other two were only lightly wounded, their friends said.

    After the incident, security was stepped up at other
    mosques around Baghdad for prayers on the Muslim holy day.

    At the Qibaa mosque, Iraqi police were joined by local
    Shi'ite guards in a show of unity from the local community.

    Hussein Ali Kadhim, another worshipper who witnessed
    the attack, said that although the attack was on a Sunni
    holy place Shi'ites were now helping them and the two
    groups would not be divided.

    The attack came two days after the appointment of 25
    ministers including a Minister of Interior whom the
    coalition said would run security in the country with
    37,000 police officers.
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