I suspect in these towns it is quite easy to spot strangers. It is nice to see a headline that starts with "Iraqi Police Arrest".
I wonder how they obtained information from the first captures so fast?
Perhaps these Iraqi's will realize the Palestinians think the same of their Iraqi muslim brethren as they do of Jews, they are all just targets to be blown up.
Iraqi Police Arrest 19
In Mosque Bombing
Death Toll Reaches 85,
Including Top Cleric
Associated Press
NAJAF, Iraq -- Al Qaeda-linked terrorists -- two of them Saudi -- organized the car bombing at the Imam Ali shrine in the holy city of Najaf, the third in a string of deadly attacks apparently aimed at undermining the U.S.-led occupation, Iraqi police said Saturday.
At least 19 suspects have been arrested in the attack, all with admitted links to Osama bin Laden's terror network, a senior Iraqi investigator told the Associated Press. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two Iraqis and two Saudis were taken into custody shortly after the Friday bombing, admitted al Qaeda ties and gave information leading to the arrest of the 15 others, including two Kuwaitis and six Palestinians with Jordanian passports. There was no immediate confirmation from U.S. officials.
The blast during noon prayers Friday killed 85 people, hospital officials said, including top Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim. An earlier death toll of 107 included duplications from reports at four hospitals, the police official said.
Thousands of angry mourners gathered outside the damaged Imam Ali shrine Saturday, calling for vengeance in the killing of Ayatollah Hakim, a cherished Shiite leader and Saddam Hussein opponent who only in May had returned from exile in Iran.
IRAQ IN TRANSITION
Imam's Death Leaves Vacuum in Shiite Power Structure1
• View a tally2 of deaths among U.S. and British troops.
• See complete coverage3 of Iraq in Transition.
While backing the formation of an Islamic state in Iraq, the ayatollah had also urged unity among hostile Shiite factions and tolerance of the American-led coalition.
"Our leader al-Hakim is gone. We want the blood of the killers of al-Hakim," a crowd of 4,000 men chanted, beating their chests.
Tens of thousands of worshippers filled the shrine and the surrounding streets of Najaf, 110 miles southwest of Baghdad, for a funeral service for victims. Residents carried coffins on the tops of cars and backs of trucks.
There was to be a service for Ayatollah Hakim in Baghdad early Sunday; he was to be buried Tuesday in Najaf, his birthplace and seat of the powerful Hakim family.
In response to the bombing, a highly respected Shiite cleric suspended his membership in the U.S.-chosen Iraqi interim Governing Council on Saturday, citing a lack of security.
Mohammed Bahr al-Uloum, who was in exile in London until Mr. Hussein's ouster, said his return to the council depended on the U.S.-led coalition's turning over security matters to Iraqis, so that Muslim shrines could be under Islamic protection.
"This act has pushed me to postpone my membership in the governing council because it can't do anything concerning the security situation," he said.
The Najaf police official who led the initial investigation and interrogation of the captives said the prisoners described plots to assassinate political and religious leaders and to damage vital installations such as electricity generation plants, water supplies and oil pipelines.
In the latest such sabotage, an explosion and fire Saturday struck the export pipeline carrying oil from Iraq's northern Kirkuk fields to Turkey. The huge blaze further delayed resumption of the vital link which costs Iraqis an estimated $7 million each day it is out of operation. The blast was the fourth to hit the line since it briefly reopened earlier this month.
The police official said the bomb at the Imam Ali shrine -- the burial place of the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, and the third-holiest Shiite shrine -- was made from the same type of materials used in the Aug. 19 truck bombing at the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, which killed 22 people, and the Jordanian Embassy vehicle bombing Aug. 7, which killed 19.
The FBI said the U.N. bomb was built from ordnance left over from Mr. Hussein's regime, most of it made in the Soviet Union. Many explosives were wired together, including a 500-pound Soviet-era bomb, the agency said.
The Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite broadcaster, quoting the Najaf governor, said 1,550 pounds of explosives were planted in two cars for the Imam Ali mosque attack. The U.N. bomb was about 1,000 pounds.
The investigation was being handled entirely by Iraqi police in Najaf, but the FBI would assist if asked, coalition spokesman Charles Heatley told reporters. "It's clearly in our interests that those responsible be brought to justice," he said.
He said the coalition had sent $200,000 to Iraqi authorities in Najaf as a disaster relief fund and had earmarked $2 million for reconstruction in the city.
The coalition "roundly rejects" claims it is not providing adequate security in Iraq, Mr. Heatley said.
The Imam Ali shrine, with its gold dome and lavish blue mosaics, is the holiest site for Shiites outside of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
Followers of Mr. bin Laden practice the deeply ascetic and fundamentalist Wahhabist variety of Sunni Islam, which has a long history of antagonism against Shiites and their ornate centers of worship.
Wahhabism, based on the strict teachings of 18th-century cleric Muhammad bin Abdel-Wahhab, was banned by Mr. Hussein. Now, scholars of Islam say the Wahhabis may be trying to cast themselves as protectors of the Sunnis, the minority that had ruled over the majority Shiites in Iraq.
Yet if al Qaeda was behind the three deadly bombings -- the Jordanian Embassy, the U.N. headquarters and the Imam Ali shrine -- the targets also sent a message against those who cooperate with the U.S.
The Jordanians have among the best ties with Washington of all Arab governments and have shown sympathy for the U.S.-picked interim Iraqi Governing Council. The U.N. was seen as a key to postwar reconstruction; its bombing caused many aid organizations to remove expatriate staff or sharply whittle operations in a potentially sharp blow to improving daily life.
Shiites leaders, while openly resentful of the American occupation, had recommended patience -- if not cooperation -- with the American occupation. The Shiites stood to benefit greatly under U.S. plans for rebuilding the country after decades of oppression under Mr. Hussein.
But the Najaf bombing set off a wave of anti-American criticism among Shiites for its inability to bring security to the country nearly four months after President Bush declared major fighting over May 1.
The Najaf police official said the men arrested after the attack claimed the recent bombings were designed to "keep Iraq in a state of chaos so that police and American forces are unable to focus attention" on the country's porous borders, which foreign fighters are said to be crossing.
The four who confessed to al Qaeda connections arrived in Najaf three days before the Friday bombing and had been staying with a friend who did not know their intentions, the official said.
American officials believe militants from Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran are entering Iraq to attack Western interests. Mr. Bush said earlier this month that more foreign "al Qaeda-type fighters" have moved in.
L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. occupation's coordinator, was out of Iraq on vacation and had no plans to return early because of the bombing, his office said Saturday, adding he had been in contact. The U.S.-led coalition is responsible for overall security in Iraq.
Copyright (c) 2003 Associated Press |
