IRAQ: THOUSANDS OF SHI'ITES MARCH IN KERBALA TO DENOUNCE ISRAEL'S ASSASSINATION OF HAMAS LEADER SHEIKH YASSIN.

Record ID: 400447

  • Title: IRAQ: THOUSANDS OF SHI'ITES MARCH IN KERBALA TO DENOUNCE ISRAEL'S ASSASSINATION OF HAMAS LEADER SHEIKH YASSIN.
  • Date: 26th March 2004
  • Summary: (EU) KERBALA, IRAQ (MARCH 26, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. HAS: IRAQI SHI'ITE PROTESTERS CARRYING FLAGS AND BANNERS DENOUNCING THE ASSASSINATION OF HAMAS SPIRITUAL LEADER SHEIKH YASSIN. (2 SHOTS) 0.12 2. HAS: PROTESTERS CARRYING POSTERS OF SEID MUQTADA AL-SADR/BEATING DRUMS AND CHANTING (Arabic) "God is the greatest", "There is no God but Allah
  • Embargoed: 10th April 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KERBALA, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA5CZO4KW0AA69S26JV6BNY197E
  • Story Text: Thousands of Iraqi Shi'ites march in Kerbala to
    denounce Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh
    Yassin.



    Thousands of Muslim Shi'ites marched in a
    demonstration and set Israeli and U.S flags on fire in
    Iraq's holy city of Kerbala on Friday (March 26) in a
    protest denouncing Israel's assassination of Sheikh Ahmed
    Yassin.

    The protesters, mostly followers of Iraqi cleric Seid
    Muqtada Al-Sadr, held their demonstration after Friday
    prayers. Some carried banners denouncing Israel for killing
    Yassin, who was the spiritual leader of Islamic militant
    group Hamas, in Gaza on Monday (March 22).

    Shi'ite cleric Jalal Husnawi, a spokesperson for
    Muqtada Al-Sadr, who attended the protest, said that the
    Israelis have gone too far in their oppression towards the
    Arabs and Muslims.

    "The crime which the Israelis have carried out wasn't
    the first of its kind, and it will not be the last. They
    have crossed all the limits by their oppression and
    injustice with the Arabs and Muslims, but we are sorry to
    say that the Arabs are in a deep sleep without recognizing
    what is going on around them," Husnawi said.

    Israeli helicopters fired three missiles at Sheikh
    Yassin as he left prayers at dawn on Monday, in Israel's
    highest profile assassination of a Palestinian in nearly 16
    years.

    At least seven other people died in the Gaza City
    missile strike on the wheelchair-bound cleric, 67, who
    co-founded Hamas, an Islamic militant group that killed
    hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings.

    The attack was the heaviest blow against the militant
    group behind dozens of suicide bombings and drawing vows of
    powerful revenge.

    Israeli security sources said Prime Minister Ariel
    Sharon personally ordered and monitored the helicopter
    attack against the paralysed cleric, whose wheelchair lay
    in pieces in a pool of blood after three missiles exploded.

    The attack appeared aimed at weakening Hamas to prevent
    it from claiming victory should Israel complete its planned
    unilateral pullout from the teeming Gaza strip, home to 1.3
    million Palestinians.





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