IRAQ - Iraqi blast damages Shia shrine (conflict increasing)

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Wednesday, 22 February

2006, 10:19 GMT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iraqi

blast damages Shia shrine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The dome of the

building was blown apart by the bombs

 

Enlarge Image

 

 

 

 

A bomb attack in Iraq has badly damaged one of the holiest sites in

Shia Islam, sparking furious protests.

Thousands of Iraqis have gathered at the al-Askari shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad, where two men

blew up the famous golden dome in a dawn raid.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the spiritual head of Iraq's Shia Muslims,

has called for a week of mourning.

The shrine is one of two tombs in Samarra for revered

Shia imams, which attract pilgrims from around the world.

The BBC's Jon Brain in Baghdad says the

attack was almost certainly designed to raise the existing tensions between

the majority Shia and minority Sunni populations.

There were no immediate reports of injuries in the attack, but

there are fears that people may have been trapped in the rubble.

Large crowds gathered quickly outside the shrine to vent their

anger.

Crowds also gathered in Baghdad, with reports of

protests elsewhere in the Middle East.

Holy site

 

 

 

 

The golden dome

had dominated the Samarra skyline

 

 

 

Samarra is mainly a Sunni Muslim stronghold and

has been a focus of the armed insurgency against US troops and the

Shia-dominated Iraqi administration.

The al-Askari shrine, part of the Imam Ali al-Hadi mausoleum, is

one of Shia Islam's holiest sites.

The compound contains the remains of the 10th and 11th imams,

reputed to be direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad.

Imam Ali al-Hadi died in 868 AD and his son, Hassan al-Askari,

died in 874 AD. The golden dome topping the al-Askari shrine was finally

completed in 1905.

The spiral minaret on top of one of the city's other holy

sites, the Sunni Great Mosque of Samarra, was damaged in April 2003.

Political anger

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iraq's Prime Minister

Ibrahim Jaafari, a Shia, appeared live on television to declare three days of mourning.

He called on Iraqis to " close the road to those who want to

undermine national unity " .

National security adviser Muwafaq al-Rubaie, another Shia,

blamed Sunni Muslim militants for the attack.

" They will fail to draw the Iraqi people into civil war as

they have failed in the past, " Reuters news agency reported him saying.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which came

one day after a visit to Iraq by UK Foreign

Secretary Jack Straw.

He urged Iraq's divided

political groups to put aside sectarian differences and quickly form a new

national government.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4738472.stm

 

Blast damages Shiite 'Golden

Mosque'

Men dressed as police

detonate explosives inside, official says

Wednesday, February 22,

2006; Posted: 5:04 a.m. EST (10:04 GMT)

BAGHDAD,

Iraq (CNN) -- An explosion ripped through a Shiite holy site in Samarra

Wednesday, damaging the al Askariya " Golden Mosque, " a U.S. military statement and a local security official

said.

Photographs showed the dome on the mosque

had been destroyed, with debris littering the area.

An official with the Salahuldin Joint Coordination Center said a group of men

dressed as Iraqi Police commandos entered the shrine around 7 a.m. (11 p.m. ET Tuesday) and detonated

explosives under the dome, collapsing it and damaging the entire mosque.

 

Dasha: Ma/Ra/Ma/Ve/Su

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Jorge Angelino

 

 

Rua da Sociedade Filarmónica

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