IRAQ: THOUSANDS PROTEST IN HILLA AFTER REPORTS THAT RELATIVES OF A JORDANIAN SUICIDE BOMBER CELEBRATE HIM AS MARTYR/SABOTEURS BLOW UP PIPELINE IN BAIJI

Record ID: 647474

  • Title: IRAQ: THOUSANDS PROTEST IN HILLA AFTER REPORTS THAT RELATIVES OF A JORDANIAN SUICIDE BOMBER CELEBRATE HIM AS MARTYR/SABOTEURS BLOW UP PIPELINE IN BAIJI
  • Date: 15th March 2005
  • Summary: (BN11) HILLA, IRAQ (MARCH 15, 2005) (REUTERS- ACCESS ALL) 1. PAN/SV PROTESTERS CHANTING "WHO COMMITTED THIS CRIME IS NOT A MUSLIM" (2 SHOTS) 0.17 2. CLOSE UP OF A BANNER READING "NO TO TERRORISM. WHY YOU DID THIS ARABS?" 0.42 3. PAN FROM TO BLACK BANNERS THAT SHOW NAMES OF THOSE WHO KILLED DUE TO TO THE SUICIDE BOMBER IN THE TOWN OF HILLA TO DEMONSTRATORS 0.25 4. SV DEMONSTRATORS CHANTNG 0.38 5. CLOSE UP OF A BANNER READING "WE CALL ON DISMISSING THE WHOLE JORDANIANS FROM IRAQ AND END RELATIONS WITH JORDAN" 0.42 6. MCU (Arabic) HILLA GOVERNOR, SAYING: "We condemn the celebration of the Jordanian family. We regret the stance of Arab people and governments towards this crime. The crime has passed unnoticed, but the celebration of this crime should be denounced from all the Arab countries" 0.57 7. PAN OF DEMONSTRATORS 1.04 (BN11) BAIJI, IRAQ (MARCH 15, 2005) (REUTERS- ACCESS ALL) 8. GV BLACK SMOKE RISING FROM PIPELINE 1.09 9. PAN THREE COLUMNS OF BLACK SMOKE RISING FROM PIPELINE 1.15 10. LV/CU PIPELINE BLAZING (2 SHOTS) 1.24 11. PAN/CU OF BLAZE OF THE PIPELINE (2 SHOTS) 1.35 12. LV OF PIPELINE ON FIRE 1.42 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 30th March 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAIJI, HILLA, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAD9RV5O3SA0RV7DDFRW1JMKJEC
  • Story Text: Thousands protest in Hilla after reports that
    relatives of a Jordanian suicide bomber, who killed 125
    people from their town, celebrated him as a
    martyr.Meanwhile saboteurs blow up pipeline in Baiji.



    Thousands of the residents of the town of Hilla
    protested on Tuesday (March15) after hearing reports that
    relatives of a Jordanian suicide bomber, who killed 125
    people from their town, celebrated him as a martyr.

    The protesters carried banners and chanting anti Arab
    slogans.

    Anti-Jordanian sentiment has been spreading since
    Iraqis heard that Jordanian militant Raid al-Banna blew
    himself up beside people lining up for jobs in the Shi'ite
    town of Hilla last month in the single bloodiest attack in
    postwar Iraq.

    "We condemn the celebration of the Jordanian family. We
    regret the stance of Arab people and governments towards
    this crime. The crime has passed unnoticed, but the
    celebration of this crime should be denounced from all the
    Arab countries," said the governor of Hilla.

    Iraqi government officials say Sunni Muslim militants
    from countries such as Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia carry
    out suicide bombings against Shi'ites in a bid to stoke
    sectarian tensions and spark a civil war under the
    inspiration of Zarqawi.

    So far, Shi'ite leaders have urged their followers to
    show restraint. The protests were the biggest outpouring of
    Shi'ite fury over Sunni insurgent attacks that have killed
    thousands.

    In Amman, state news agency Petra quoted Prime Minister
    Faisal al-Fayez as saying Jordan stands by the Iraqi people
    in their struggle against "terrorism" targeting innocent
    civilians.

    But attempts to defuse growing anger over Hilla and
    other violence had little impact in the streets of Baghdad and the
    sout
    hern city of Najaf, where protesters also
    gathered.

    Near the Najaf home of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's
    top Shi'ite cleric who has always urged moderation,
    protesters held up a poster of King Abdullah's face
    superimposed on the body of a pig beside a photograph of
    him walking with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who
    is hated across the Arab world.

    Petra quoted the Jordanian interior ministry as
    saying that the journalist who ran a story saying a
    Jordanian had carried out the Hilla bombing was arrested
    for publishing false information that harmed the country.

    His paper, al Ghad, ran a correction on March 12 saying
    the family of Banna denied he had carried out the Hilla
    bombing and that they were only told he had carried out an
    operation.

    Whether Banna was the bomber or not, the demonstrations
    underscored growing Iraqi frustrations with a security
    crisis that shows no sign of easing.

    Meanwhile in Baiji, saboteurs blew up a section of
    Iraq's northern oil export pipeline on Tuesday (March 15),
    causing a large blaze and sending thick clouds of black
    smoke over the city, oil officials and witnesses said.

    They said that explosion took place near at al-Fatha,
    seven kilometres east of Baiji.

    Dozens of pipelines run from Kirkuk to Baiji, around
    Baiji and then north and south from there and saboteurs
    often don't know which line they are attacking, although
    their chief target is the main export line.

    Baiji is about 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of Baghdad
    and is a vital hub in the network of oil pipelines, which
    criss-cross Iraq.





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