Massive Car Bomb Kills 75, Top Shiite Cleric in Iraq's Najaf

[Seraphim]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030829/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&cid=540&ncid=716


By D'ARCY DORAN, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A car bomb exploded at the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf during Friday prayers, killing at least four people, including one of Iraq (news - web sites)'s most important Shiite clerics, a relative said. An Arab TV network said the death toll was much higher.


Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim died in the bombing, his nephew told The Associated Press.


"I called family in Najaf and they confirmed he was dead," said Murthada Saeed al-Hakim, a nephew of the cleric. Earlier, an aide to the ayatollah's brother said he had escaped injury.


Also on Friday, attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at two U.S. convoys in separate ambushes, killing one American soldier and wounding six, the U.S. military said.


Dozens were injured in the Najaf blast, according to the interim government. The Dubai-based al-Arabiya network reported 17 dead, and unconfirmed reports had higher death tolls.


The ayatollah's death also was confirmed by Ahmad Chalabi, the leader of Iraqi National Congress and a governing Council member, speaking on al-Jazeera, the Arab broadcaster. He quoted the cleric's brother, Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim.


Chalabi blamed U.S. forces for not keeping the region secure and said the bombing was the work of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) loyalists who were trying to create sectarian discord in the country.


Ayatollah al-Hakim was the spiritual leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq and had divided his time since the end of the war between Tehran and Najaf, the holiest Shiite Muslim city in Iraq.


The Al-Hakims are one of the most influential families in the Iraq's Shiite community. The ayatollah's brother, Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, is a member of the Governing Council and was leader of the armed wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, headquartered in Iran before the war.


There has been considerable unrest among the religious factions in Najaf, a holy city 110 miles southwest of Baghdad.


Younger Shiites, many from Baghdad's Sadr City slum, have conducted an ongoing power struggle with the more traditional Shiite Muslims in the city and region, conducting a political battle to grab control from the al-Hakim family.


Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr, who is not yet 30, and his young followers have sought tirelessly to replace more traditional factions as the voice of Iraq's Shiite majority, portraying themselves as the ones doing the most to redress decades of suppression by Sunni Muslims under the Saddam's rule.


Al-Sadr draws most of his support from Shiites in Baghdad's Sadr City slum.


The blast occurred a week after a bomb exploded outside the house another of Iraqi's most important Shiite clerics, killing three guards and injuring 10 others, including family members.


The gas cylinder was placed along the outside wall of the home of Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim in Najaf. It exploded just after noon prayers Aug. 24. Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim is related to the ayatollah who was killed Friday.


Iraqi newspapers reported two weeks ago that the Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim had received threats against his life. He also is one of three top Shiite leaders threatened with death by a rival Shiite cleric shortly after Saddam was toppled April 9.


A day after Saddam's ouster, a mob in Najaf hacked to death a Shiite cleric who had returned from exile. Abdul Majid al-Khoei was killed when a meeting called to reconcile rival Shiite groups erupted into a melee.





Shiites make up some 60 percent of Iraq's 24 million people.

In the attack on the U.S. troops, insurgents fired three rocket-propelled grenades at a supply convoy on a main road northeast of Baqouba, 40 miles northeast of Baghdad, said Capt. Jay Miller from the 67th Armor Regiment's 3rd Battalion.

The soldiers were also hit by small arms fire. One of the wounded soldiers would have to have a leg amputated, said Capt. David Nelson from the 4th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade.

The death raised the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq to 282. Of those, 67 have died in combat since May 1, when President Bush (news - web sites) declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq.

Another U.S. Army convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade near a mosque in Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, said Spc. Margo Doers, a spokeswoman at coalition command in Baghdad. She said two were wounded in the attack, according to early reports.

In Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, 120 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S.-backed police chief narrowly escaped an assassination attempt Thursday.

Attackers sprayed bullets at police chief Talab Shamel Ahmed's convoy as it traveled on the main highway linking the city to Samara, said Lt. Rosco Woods, a U.S. military police officer supervising the Tikrit police force.

Ahmed escaped unhurt, but his driver was in critical condition in the Tikrit hospital, Woods said. The police chief was clearly targeted in the attack, which left the rear of his car riddled with bullets.

Ahmed is the fourth police chief in Saddam's hometown since U.S. troops occupied it in April. The U.S. military fired the other three for incompetence, Woods said.

There have been several attacks or attempted assassinations of police chiefs working with U.S. military authorities in Iraq. The police chief of Baiji, a town north of Tikrit, was also a target of one such attempt earlier this month, the military said.

At the United Nations (news - web sites), key Security Council members said U.S. talk of relinquishing some military authority in Iraq was a first step in trying to deal with the postwar turmoil. But they said a real solution will require more power for Iraqis and the United Nations.

The Bush administration is sounding out nations on a possible new U.N. resolution that would transform the U.S.-led force in Iraq into a multinational force authorized by the United Nations with an American commander.

The United States is trying to assess whether the proposal — which was floated last week by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) — would prompt more countries to send peacekeeping troops to Iraq to relieve some of the 138,000 U.S. troops.

The 4th Infantry Division troops carried out three raids across north central Iraq over a 24-hour period and detained 25 people, two of whom were targeted as Saddam loyalists suspected of planning attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces, said Lt. Col. William MacDonald, spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division.

Also Friday, the United Nations released a list naming 22 victims killed in the Aug. 19 suicide bombing of its Baghdad headquarters.

Sergio Vieira de Mello of Brazil, the secretary-general's special representative to Iraq, died in the attack. The other victims included nine Iraqis, three Americans, two Canadians, two Egyptians and one each from Spain, Iran, Jordan, Scotland, and the Philippines.

[budanski]

HOLY SHIITE!!!
thats just awful.

[Seraphim]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20030829/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq





Prominent Shiite Cleric Killed in Iraq

By D'ARCY DORAN, Associated Press Writer

NAJAF, Iraq - A massive car bomb exploded at the Imam Ali mosque during Friday prayers in this holy city, killing one of Iraq (news - web sites)'s most important Shiite clerics and at least three other people, witnesses said.


Al-Jazeera television said more people than 20 died. Dozens were injured in the blast, which dug a crater about 3 1/2 feet deep in the street in front of the mosque and destroyed nearby shops, where people pulled the dead and injured from the rubble.


Among the dead was Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim moments, who had just delivered a sermon calling for Iraqi unity at the shrine, the holiest in Iraq.


Shiites in Iraq are embroiled in a generational power struggle, but there was no evidence the bombing was the work of the younger Shiite faction, which has its strongest support in Baghdad's Sadr City slum.


Even so, both the al-Hakim supporters and a prominent figure in the U.S.-backed government blamed Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) loyalists.


Also on Friday, attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at two U.S. convoys in separate ambushes, killing one American soldier and wounding six, the U.S. military said.


Murthada Saeed al-Hakim, al-Hakim's nephew who spoke to the family in Najaf, told The Associated Press the cleric had been killed.


"I saw al-Hakim walk out of the shrine after his sermon and moments later, there was a massive explosion. There were many dead bodies," said Abdul Amir Jassem, a 40-year-old merchant who was in the mosque and said the cleric had prayed for Iraqi unity.


Ayatollah al-Hakim was the spiritual leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq and had divided his time since the end of the war between Tehran and Najaf, the holiest Shiite Muslim city in Iraq.


Mohsen Hakim, another of the cleric's nephews and a spokesman for the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq, said in Tehran that Saddam loyalists were the prime suspects behind the killing, and he called on the U.S. occupation forces to identify the murderers.


Ahmad Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress and a Governing Council member, blamed U.S. forces for not keeping the region secure. Speaking on Al-Jazeera, also said Saddam supporters were behind it, saying they were trying to create sectarian discord in the country.


No coalition troops were in the area of the mosque out of respect for the holy site, Pentagon (news - web sites) spokesman Lt. Col. Jim Cassella said in Washington.


The top U.S. civilian official in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, denounced the bombing, saying it demonstrated that "the enemies of the new Iraq will stop at nothing."


"Again, they have killed innocent Iraqis. Again, they have violated one of Islam's most sacred places. Again, by their heinous action, they have shown the evil face of terrorism," Bremer said in a statement.


There has been considerable unrest among the religious factions in Najaf.


The al-Hakims are one of the most influential families in the Iraq's Shiite community. The ayatollah's brother, Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, is a member of the Governing Council and was leader of the armed wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, headquartered in Iran before the war.


Younger Shiites have been fighting for power with the more traditional Shiite Muslims in the city and region, trying to grab control from the al-Hakim family.





Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr, who is not yet 30, and his young followers have sought tirelessly to replace more traditional factions as the voice of Iraq's Shiite majority, portraying themselves as the ones doing the most to redress decades of suppression by Sunni Muslims under the Saddam's rule.

"The killing appears to have sought to deny Shiite Muslims an effective role in Iraq's future at a time when Iraq is gradually preparing for elections," said Iranian political analyst Morad Veisi in Tehran.

He said the killers sought to sow seeds of discord between Shiite and Sunni Muslims and showed the United States is "incapable of providing adequate security in Iraq."

The blast occurred a week after a bomb exploded at the house of another of Iraqi's most important Shiite clerics, killing three guards and injuring 10 others, including family members. The gas cylinder was placed along the outside wall of the home of Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim in Najaf. It exploded just after noon prayers Aug. 24. Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim is related to the ayatollah who was killed Friday.

A day after Saddam's ouster, a mob in Najaf hacked to death a Shiite cleric who had returned from exile. Abdul Majid al-Khoei was killed when a meeting called to reconcile rival Shiite groups erupted into a melee.

Shiites make up some 60 percent of Iraq's 24 million people.

In the attack on the U.S. troops, insurgents fired three rocket-propelled grenades at a supply convoy on a main road northeast of Baqouba, 40 miles northeast of Baghdad, said Capt. Jay Miller from the 67th Armor Regiment's 3rd Battalion.

The soldiers were also hit by small arms fire. One of the wounded soldiers would have to have a leg amputated, said Capt. David Nelson from the 4th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade.

The death raised the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq to 282. Of those, 67 have died in combat since May 1, when President Bush (news - web sites) declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq.

Another U.S. Army convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade near a mosque in Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, said Spc. Margo Doers, a spokeswoman at coalition command in Baghdad. She said two were wounded in the attack, according to early reports.

At the United Nations (news - web sites), key Security Council members said U.S. talk of relinquishing some military authority in Iraq was a first step in trying to deal with the postwar turmoil. But they said a real solution will require more power for Iraqis and the United Nations.

The Bush administration is sounding out nations on a possible new U.N. resolution that would transform the U.S.-led force in Iraq into a multinational force authorized by the United Nations with an American commander.

The United States is trying to assess whether the proposal — which was floated last week by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) — would prompt more countries to send peacekeeping troops to Iraq to relieve some of the 138,000 U.S. troops.

The 4th Infantry Division troops carried out three raids across north central Iraq over a 24-hour period and detained 25 people, two of whom were targeted as Saddam loyalists suspected of planning attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces, said Lt. Col. William MacDonald, spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division.

[ArmoredDov_D9]

You can't be passive or act defensively against terror. If you'll sit and wait it will hit you in your Achiles heel. You must be initiative and constantly attack the terrorists. You shouldn't give them even one minute to rest.

Arab terrorism, known for its cruelity and lack-of-moral, is even harder. Not only Arab terrorists attacking military resorts but they are also targeting civilians. They will not hasitate even to murder their one civilians in order to inflict damaged to the enemy (and today Iraqi terrorist blow themselves near a Shiitie mosque). That's why Israel having a lot of trouble hunting Hamas terrorist which hide among civilians and using them as a human shield.

The US military intelligence will have to draw a map and find the centers of terrorist activity. This area should be quarantined and then raided to arrest the terrorists.

[Royal]

You can't be passive or act defensively against terror. If you'll sit and wait it will hit you in your Achiles heel. You must be initiative and constantly attack the terrorists. You shouldn't give them even one minute to rest.

Arab terrorism, known for its cruelity and lack-of-moral, is even harder. Not only Arab terrorists attacking military resorts but they are also targeting civilians. They will not hasitate even to murder their one civilians in order to inflict damaged to the enemy (and today Iraqi terrorist blow themselves near a Shiitie mosque). That's why Israel having a lot of trouble hunting Hamas terrorist which hide among civilians and using them as a human shield.

The US military intelligence will have to draw a map and find the centers of terrorist activity. This area should be quarantined and then raided to arrest the terrorists.

Here we go again. Strangely, I agree with most of your points, you just havn't got a clue about how to carry them out. but have a look at history.

How many CT campagins have been won by western forces? Very few. A few from memory (in no particular order); Dhofar, Malaya, Borneo. Was overwhelming firepower used in any case? No. Were the civilian population won over with 'hearts and minds? Yes.

BTW this is not just a dig at the Israelis, it applies equally to us and the US in Iraq, the 'stan and elsewhere.

[Grimjack]

Hey Royal you still active?

[Royal]

Grimjack,

Yeah - see my 'leaving on a jetplane' post. I'm in a staff job at the moment (if that counts ;) ).

Go back to an Ops job later next year.

[hood]

A few friends of mine are set to ship over there in November. Luckily they'll be inside a tank. :)

Here's a video just after the bombing from Fox.

http://66.230.216.3/082903/iraq_carbomb1_082903_300.wmv

[Kriz]

Here on the telly they are saying that 82 people died and 299 are wounded ? Can anyone confirm this ?

[ArmoredDov_D9]

Here we go again. Strangely, I agree with most of your points, you just havn't got a clue about how to carry them out. but have a look at history.

How many CT campagins have been won by western forces? Very few. A few from memory (in no particular order); Dhofar, Malaya, Borneo. Was overwhelming firepower used in any case? No. Were the civilian population won over with 'hearts and minds? Yes.

BTW this is not just a dig at the Israelis, it applies equally to us and the US in Iraq, the 'stan and elsewhere.

An harsh military response have won serveral CT campaigns.
British troops managed to stop the Arab riots in 1936-1939 and Israel managed to stop the Fadaayun's terror by the year of 1956.

As I said before, the Muslim-Arab terrorism is different. Not only it is more vicious and willing to kill its own citizens - it also motivated by a metaphysic hatred and brainwashed zealots. More over, Islam-Arab terrorism is supported by serveral Arab states such as Saudia, Syria and Iran. Without drying out the funding, it will be hard hunt out all the cells of the Arab terror groups.

BTW America has more liberty to blow out civilians in its war efforts, being the world most powerful country - it can put a damn on European and UN criticizm. USA forces killed thousands of Iraqi civilians in harsh bombardment. Imagine if Israel was bombing and killing 5000 Palestinian civs (note that today the figures shows that Israeli forces have killed only about 700 Palestinian civilians, the rest killed were terrorists).

[usa320]

CNN now reports 75 dead at least. Why the hell would islamic extremists blow up a freakin mosque? :cantbeli: Stupid people..."Hey lets blow up the mosqe so our own supporters will turn on us"

:fork:

[budanski]

CNN now reports 75 dead at least. Why the hell would islamic extremists blow up a freakin mosque? :cantbeli: Stupid people..."Hey lets blow up the mosqe so our own supporters will turn on us"

:fork:

The same is going on in Ireland. Christians killiing Christians.

[Seraphim]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20030829/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_030821224342


By D'ARCY DORAN, Associated Press Writer

NAJAF, Iraq - A car bomb exploded at the Imam Ali mosque during Friday prayers in this holy city, killing 75 people, including one of Iraq (news - web sites)'s most important Shiite clerics, authorities said.



The blast destroyed nearby shops and blew a crater about 3 1/2 feet wide in the street in front of the shrine, Iraq's holiest. People screamed in grief and anger as they searched the rubble for victims. Nearby cars were torn into twisted hunks of metal by the explosion.


A survey of Najaf's medical facilities counted 75 dead, with 140 wounded, including many who were seriously hurt, said Dr. Safaa al-Ameedi, chief doctor at the central hospital in the city, 110 miles southwest of Baghdad.


Among the dead was Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, 64, who had just delivered a sermon calling for Iraqi unity.


Shiites in Iraq are embroiled in a generational power struggle, but there was no evidence the bombing was the work of the younger Shiite faction, which has its strongest support in Baghdad's Sadr City slum.


Both the al-Hakim supporters and a prominent figure in the U.S.-backed government blamed Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) loyalists.


Along with last week's deadly bombing at the U.N.'s Baghdad headquarters, Friday's attack seems certain to undermine stability in Iraq and make it even more difficult for the Americans to maintain security.


Earlier Friday, attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at two U.S. convoys in separate ambushes, killing one American soldier and wounding six, the U.S. military said.


Murthada Saeed al-Hakim, al-Hakim's nephew who spoke to the family in Najaf, told The Associated Press the cleric had been killed.


"I saw al-Hakim walk out of the shrine after his sermon and moments later, there was a massive explosion. There were many dead bodies," said Abdul Amir Jassem, a merchant who was at the mosque.


The mosque — an important Shiite shrine that is visited by tens of thousands of pilgrims each year — appeared to have suffered only minor damage, with some mosaic tiles blown off. After the blast, a group of men and women pressed their hands and faces against the doors of the shrine, which was closed.


"Even the Americans didn't bomb us like this!" wailed one woman through her tears.


Residents jammed medical facilities to look for relatives who may have been hurt in the bombing, which occurred as thousands were pouring out of the mosque, al-Ameedi said.


Ayatollah al-Hakim was the spiritual leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq and had divided his time since the end of the war between Tehran and Najaf, the holiest Shiite Muslim city in Iraq.


Mohsen Hakim, another of the cleric's nephews and a spokesman for the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq, said in Tehran that Saddam loyalists were the prime suspects behind the killing, and he called on U.S. occupation forces to identify the murderers.


Ahmad Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress and a Governing Council member, blamed Saddam, his remnants and his allies from across the border.


"We know they are active in trying to undermine the Governing Council and allies of the U.S.," he said.





"I don't hold the American forces responsible for the al-Hakim assassination. But I hold the coalition forces responsible for security in Iraq. The Americans have taken responsibility for security in Iraq and I appeal to them to keep the peace," Chalabi said on Al-Jazeera television.

Chalabi said he had been told of the death by the cleric's brother Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, a leader of the armed wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and a fellow member of the U.S.-picked interim government.

No coalition troops were in the area of the mosque out of respect for the holy site, said Pentagon (news - web sites) spokesman Lt. Col. Jim Cassella. U.S.-led troops have been asked to stay away from the mosque by Shiite officials.

An AP reporter in Najaf reported no U.S. troops were seen in the city. Spanish forces, who are taking control of the region from the U.S. Marines, were seen in small numbers on its outskirts.

The top U.S. civilian official in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, denounced the bombing, saying it demonstrated that "the enemies of the new Iraq will stop at nothing."

"Again, they have killed innocent Iraqis. Again, they have violated one of Islam's most sacred places. Again, by their heinous action, they have shown the evil face of terrorism," Bremer said in a statement.

The FBI (news - web sites) would not investigate the bombing unless U.S. citizens were involved or if Bremer asked for help, said FBI spokesman Bill Carter in Washington.

In Sadr City, about 1,000 al-Hakim followers demonstrated in front of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution headquarters. Some sat weeping on the ground; others shouted for revenge.

"We will not forget our Ayatollah Baqir al-Hakim!" they chanted. One protester fired a pistol in the air and urged the crowd to search for the Saddam backers and foreign fighters that he claimed were responsible.

There has been considerable unrest among the religious factions in Najaf.

The ayatollah belonged to one of the most influential families in Iraq's Shiite community. His brother, Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, is a member of the Governing Council and led the armed wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, headquartered in Iran before the war.

Younger Shiites have been fighting for power with the more traditional Shiite Muslims in the city and region, trying to grab control from the al-Hakim family.

Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr, who is not yet 30, and his young followers have sought to replace more traditional factions as the voice of Iraq's Shiite majority, portraying themselves as the ones doing the most to redress decades of suppression by Sunni Muslims under the Saddam's rule.

"The killing appears to have sought to deny Shiite Muslims an effective role in Iraq's future at a time when Iraq is gradually preparing for elections," said Iranian political analyst Morad Veisi in Tehran.

He said the killers sought to sow discord between Shiite and Sunni Muslims and showed the United States is "incapable of providing adequate security in Iraq."

The blast occurred a week after a bombing at the Najaf home of another of Iraqi's most important Shiite clerics killed three guards and injured 10 others. It exploded at the home of Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim — a relative of the ayatollah killed Friday — just after noon prayers Aug. 24.

A day after Saddam's ouster, a mob at the Imam Ali mosque hacked to death Abdul Majid al-Khoei, a Shiite cleric who had just returned from exile, at a meeting called to reconcile rival groups.

Shiites make up some 60 percent of Iraq's 24 million people.

In Friday's attack on the U.S. troops, insurgents fired three rocket-propelled grenades at a supply convoy on a main road northeast of Baqouba, 40 miles northeast of Baghdad, said Capt. Jay Miller from the 67th Armor Regiment's 3rd Battalion.

The soldiers were also hit by small arms fire, and one of the wounded will lose his leg, said Capt. David Nelson from the 4th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade.

The death raised the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq to 282. Of those, 67 have died in combat since May 1, when President Bush (news - web sites) declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq.

Another U.S. Army convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade near a mosque in Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, said spokeswoman Spc. Margo Doers. She said two were wounded in the attack.

At the United Nations (news - web sites), key Security Council members said U.S. talk of relinquishing some military authority in Iraq was a first step in trying to deal with the postwar turmoil. But they said a real solution will require more power for Iraqis and the United Nations.

The Bush administration is sounding out nations on a possible U.N. resolution to transform the U.S.-led force into a multinational force authorized by the United Nations with an American commander.

The United States is trying to assess whether the proposal — which was floated last week by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) — would prompt more countries to send peacekeeping troops to Iraq to relieve some of the 138,000 U.S. troops.




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[Seiyuuki]

Coalition forces, Jordanian's Embassy, UN HQ and now a Shiite's mosque...Forgive my ignorant, did I miss these terrorists' mission statement somewhere?

[hood]

This one isn't al qaeda style terrorism, it's Saddam loyalists who are hard Suuni muslims bombing a Shiite muslim mosque. Shiite's might as well be infidels for all they care. Iran too no time to publish a statement stating how the US is offering zero security whatsoever. This of course, after the US forces were repeatedly pushed away from the areas near mosques because they didn't want soldiers near holy places.

[usa320]

If they think that was an impressive bombing, what till the sons of bitches see our payback... :fork:

[Kriz]

CNN now reports 75 dead at least. Why the hell would islamic extremists blow up a freakin mosque? :cantbeli: Stupid people..."Hey lets blow up the mosqe so our own supporters will turn on us"

:fork:

The same is going on in Ireland. Christians killiing Christians.£
Aren't that protestants versus roman catholics ? And it's also Irish versus Brits

Well that's what I think feel free to correct me if I'm wrong !

Best regards , Kriz

[Smintjes]

Protestants and Roman Catholics are both Christians ;)

[Kriz]

Protestants and Roman Catholics are both Christians ;)
Ow :oops:
But still protestants versus Roman Catholics has caused quite some bloodshed in European history, despite them being both Christians.

Thanks for correcting me :hug:

[Spine]

This was intended to start ethnic violence between the Shiites and Sunnis I think, just to add to the overall chaos and make things harder for the occupation.

[StarvingStudent47]

CNN now reports 75 dead at least. Why the hell would islamic extremists blow up a freakin mosque? :cantbeli: Stupid people..."Hey lets blow up the mosqe so our own supporters will turn on us"

:fork:

Sunnis don't like Shi'ites, and vice versa. A Shi'ite mosque was blown up in Pakistan recently by Sunni terrorists. This is the same deal.

For reference, al-Qaeda and Hamas are Sunni, Hezbollah is Shi'ite.

A Sunni vs Shi'ite civil war in Iraq could be very bloody indeed.

[Royal]

As I said before, the Muslim-Arab terrorism is different. Not only it is more vicious and willing to kill its own citizens - it also motivated by a metaphysic hatred and brainwashed zealots.

H pot t i kettle, send colour /-


More over, Islam-Arab terrorism is supported by serveral Arab states such as Saudia, Syria and Iran. Without drying out the funding, it will be hard hunt out all the cells of the Arab terror groups.

USA anyone?