Anger Over Shrine Attack

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http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...510103,00.html

Anger Over Shrine Attack
Updated: 17:24, Wednesday February 22, 2006





The destruction of a sacred Shi'ite shrine in Iraq has sparked a wave of violence which has seen six Sunni Muslims killed and dozens of Sunni mosques attacked.

Bombs wrecked the golden dome at the Askariya mosque in Samarra, to the north of Baghdad.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw condemned the blasts as a "criminal and sacrilegious act".

He added: "It is a blatant and despicable attempt by terrorists to try and ignite civil strife and disrupt the process of forming a new Iraqi Government."

Local officials said there were no reports of casualties after gunmen entered the mosque at dawn and set off charges that destroyed the celebrated dome of one of the four holiest Shi'ite sites in Iraq.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered near the shrine, waving Iraqi flags, Shi'ite religious banners and copies of the Koran.

Iraq's leading Shi'ite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, called for protests and for seven days of mourning.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari declared three days of mourning and described the blast as an attack on all Muslims.


Initial reports suggested the incident was linked to ongoing sectarian violence between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims.

Few Shi'ites live in the mainly Sunni city of Samarra.

Sectarian tensions are running high amid attempts to form a unity government following Shi'ite successes in December's elections.

National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, a Shi'ite, blamed Arab Sunni militants inspired by al Qaeda for the explosion.

But he said: "They will fail to draw the Iraqi people into civil war as they have failed in the past."

Protesters gathering in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf vowed revenge for the attack, while some Sunni mosques around the country have been damaged.

The complex which was attacked is dedicated to the imams Ali al-Hadi and his son Hassan al-Askari, who are buried there.
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this cant be good, as revenge attacks have already begun.. anyone sense a possible civil war?