IRAQ: Thousands of people march through streets of Baghdad's Shi'ite slum Sadr City in protest over blast at the holy Shi'ite Shrine in Samarra

Record ID: 858747

  • Title: IRAQ: Thousands of people march through streets of Baghdad's Shi'ite slum Sadr City in protest over blast at the holy Shi'ite Shrine in Samarra
  • Date: 22nd February 2006
  • Summary: (W2)SAMARRA, IRAQ (FILE - DECEMBER, 2003) (REUTERS) SHRINE WITH GOLDEN DOME AND MINARETS AT THE END OF STREET IN SAMARRA TOWN
  • Embargoed: 9th March 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • City:
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVAE084CBI84HZHDTEK8I79XYT5X
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Thousands of people of Baghdad's Sadr City marched through streets of the Shi'ite slum on Wednesday (February 22) in protest over blast of a holy Shi'ite Shrine north of Baghdad.
    Chanting "there is no God but Allah", the protesters, mostly clad in black, the uniform of Mehdi Army, the militia of Shi'ite firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr held the U.S. forces responsible for the attacks, urging the government to act swiftly to stop repeated attacks on the Shi'ite population.
    "The occupier is responsible for these acts and we hold the occupier responsible for attacks on the holy shrines and on the people. And we, the people of this country and this oppressed city of Al-Sadr urge the Iraqi government to put an end to the attacks on our religious symbols," said Abu Kamail al-Mussawi.
    "I hold the U.S. forces responsible for this act and I urge our religious authorities to strongly condemn this act," said Haythem Abdul Razzaq.
    Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called on Wednesday for "suitable" protests over a blast that destroyed a holy Shi'ite shrine in the Iraqi town of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad on Wednesday.
    In the holy city of Najaf, the office of leading cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a statement declaring seven days of mourning and urging "suitable protests".
    Sistani has been credited by many Shi'ite political leaders with restraining the religious majority, long oppressed under Saddam Hussein, from responding with violence to repeated attacks that have killed thousands of civilians.
    Witnesses in the town and television footage showed the top of the dome blown off and shattered masonry framed by two slender minarets. A U.S. military spokeswoman described the damage to the roof as "catastrophic".
    Abdullah al-Jubaara, the deputy governor of Salahaddin province which includes Samarra, told Reuters that gunmen entered the shrine at dawn, planted bombs and then blew it up.
    Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shi'ite Islamist under pressure from the United States to bring Sunni minority leaders into a coalition government that can avert a sectarian civil war, went live on television to declare three days of mourning.
    He called for unity, calling it an attack on all Muslims and saying sectarian rebels had to be resisted.
    Local officials said there were no reports of casualties after gunmen entered the Golden Shrine at dawn and set off charges that destroyed the celebrated dome of one of the four holiest Shi'ite sites in Iraq. It is dedicated to the imams Ali al-Hadi and his son Hassan al-Askari.
    Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, has been a seat of the Sunni insurgency against the U.S.-backed, Shi'ite-led government. Few Shi'ites live in the mainly Sunni city.
    Sectarian tensions are running high as Jaafari tries to form a unity government following Shi'ite Islamist successes in a parliamentary election in December.
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