John,
<font color=brown>Its like they are trying to start a war between the Sunnis and Shia not just in Iraq but all over the world. What a mess!<font color=black>
ted
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Top Worldwide
Bombers in Iraq, Pakistan Kill 184 People on Holy Day, Hurt 590
March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Shiite Muslims were attacked by bombers in Iraq and Pakistan on a holy day, killing at least 184 people and wounding about 590. U.S. authorities in Iraq said a man they have described as an al-Qaeda associate, Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, may be behind the Iraqi attacks.
Iraqis marking the observance of Ashura were targeted in almost simultaneous attacks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad and the venerated Shiite city of Karbala about 60 miles south. At least 58 people were killed and 200 wounded in Baghdad and 85 people killed and 230 wounded in Karbala, U.S. Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said in Baghdad.
``This was a clear and tragically well-organized act of terrorism,'' Dan Senor, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, said in Baghdad as he answered questions alongside Kimmitt.
At least 41 Shiites were killed and more than 160 wounded in a bomb blast and gun assault near the city of Quetta, Pakistan, according to tallies from two hospitals. City officials imposed a curfew as the assailants were sought.
The Iraq attacks, one of the largest single-day death tolls since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in April, came as the U.S. works toward the transfer of political sovereignty to an Iraqi body by the end of June. The U.S.-picked Iraqi Governing Council concluded negotiations on an interim Iraqi constitution yesterday.
Iraqis Stone Soldiers
U.S. soldiers responding to the mosque in Baghdad were shouted at and stoned by irate Iraqis, a reaction that Kimmitt described as ``absolutely understandable'' in a moment of acute grief. Senor said Iraqis who watched American forces defeat Hussein's regime in three weeks last year are trying to grasp why the same army can't stop the resistance assaults.
The bombings were the most deadly in Iraq since two suicide bomber struck Kurdish political offices in the northern city of Arbil on Feb. 1, killing at least 100 people. A mosque in the holy city of Najaf was attacked in August, when leading cleric Ayatollah Mohamad Baqir Al Hakim was killed along with more than 80 other people in a bombing.
At least three suicide bombers attacked the Al-Kadhimiya mosque in Baghdad today, while a fourth bomber, wearing an explosives-filled vest, was captured, Kimmitt said. In Karbala, where one suicide bomber was involved, six people were apprehended. The suspects are being held and questioned by the Iraqi police, Kimmitt said.
Zarqawi
Kimmitt said the 38-year-old Zarqawi, who has been described as an associate of al-Qaeda, is a ``chief suspect'' in the Iraq attacks. The U.S. military last month made public a letter it said was written by Zarqawi that described a plan to provoke a war within four months between Iraq's Sunni Muslims and the majority Shiites.
Adel Abdel-Mehdi, a Governing Council member, said he and other council members believed Zarqawi was responsible.
Zarqawi is suspected ``just by the methods that have been used in the past, just by the techniques that have been used in the past; by the axiom of suicidal, spectacular, symbolic,'' assaults, Kimmitt said. ``All those would point to some sort of transnational organization.''
In London, U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and visiting Jordanian King Abdullah II both implicated Zarqawi in the attacks. Blair said a small, active group inside Iraq is trying to set Shiite against Sunni to foment unrest.
Jack Straw, the foreign secretary of the U.K., which has the second-largest military commitment inside Iraq, said earlier that he thought the attacks were timed to send a message against Iraqi unity.
`Rejectionist' Plots
``They sadly represent a continued attempt by rejectionist terrorists to promote civil strife,'' Straw said. ``It is no coincidence in my judgment that these events have occurred both on days of celebration for the Shiite community and of devotion by them, but also just a day after there was the very good news from Iraq of the agreement for what amounts to an interim constitution.''
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis turned out to observe Ashura, the first celebration permitted since the mostly Sunni Baath Party of Saddam Hussein took power almost three decades ago. Ashura marks the death in battle almost 1,300 years ago of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.
In Beirut, a spokesman for Iraq's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, blamed American soldiers for the attacks, saying they were responsible for the security. Sheikh Hamed Khafaf said U.S. officials had ignored repeated requests to bolster security for the pilgrims.
Kimmitt said the U.S. left security operations inside mosques and directly around them to Iraqi police officers, though U.S. soldiers do set up ``outer cordons'' and conduct searches.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Todd Zeranski in New York, or tzeranski@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor of this story:
Edward DeMarco at edemarco1@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: March 2, 2004 11:40 EST
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