Scores Killed in Spate of Attacks on Shiites in Iraq

Siites killed by sunnis and scores killed is this what is Islam and f there are sectrian blasts and killings how can they call it Jihad or wotever. Baghdad reverberates with blasts and by whom by their own people. NYT

By SAM DAGHER

Published: August 7, 2009

BAGHDAD — A series of bombing attacks against Shiites on Friday near the northern city of Mosul and in Baghdad killed at least 36 people and wounded nearly 100 others, officials said.

The bombings, which appear intended to polarize Iraqis and inflame sectarian passions, coincided with the end of an important Shiite religious occasion, and came one week after five Shiite mosques in Baghdad were bombed in coordinated attacks, killing at least 29.

The worst bombing on Friday took place at a Shiite Turkmen mosque on the northern fringes of Mosul. A car bomb detonated while the mosque and adjacent hall used for funeral services were packed with people, killing at least 30 people and wounding 75, local security officials said. Residents said the explosion was heard in the center of the city.

It was the second devastating attack to strike near Shiite Turkmen mosques in recent months. In June, a truck bomb exploded as worshipers left Friday Prayers in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing 68 people and wounding 200.

Mosul is one of the most violent places in Iraq. Insurgents linked to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a home-grown militant group, and former Baath Party, once led by Saddam Hussein, remain active. Under the security agreement between Iraq and the United States, most American forces are now garrisoned at a base in Mosul.

In Baghdad on Friday, a roadside bomb planted near Hamza Square in the Sadr City district ripped through a minibus carrying pilgrims returning from the holy Shiite city of Karbala, killing three people and wounding eight others, according to an official at the Ministry of Interior, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media.

An hour later, two roadside bombs exploded simultaneously in the path of other minibuses transporting pilgrims in and around Sadr City, killing three and wounding 16, the official said.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims had flocked to Karbala to celebrate on Thursday the birth of Imam Mahdi, the Shiite saint who is believed to have gone into a state of occultation in the year 873 at the age of 5. Shiites believe he will re-emerge for the salvation of mankind.

Separately, Sheik Jalaleddin al-Saghir, a cleric and a senior member of Parliament, said during his weekly sermon at the Buratha mosque in Baghdad that the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, had been the target of an assassination attempt by one of his own guards.

“Recently, a member of the prime minister’s own private security detail wanted to assassinate the prime minister,” said Sheik Saghir, a leader in the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq party, which is part of Mr. Maliki’s ruling Shiite coalition. “Someone from his inner circle and I were told this by the prime minister himself.”

Sheik Saghir did not provide other details, and Ali al-Adeeb, a senior member of Mr. Maliki’s Dawa Party, said he had not heard about such an attempt.

Mohammed Hussein contributed reporting from Baghdad and an Iraqi employee of the New York Times from Mosul, Iraq.