http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/23/world/23iraq.html

February 23, 2006

Blast at Shiite Shrine Sets Off Sectarian Fury in Iraq

By ROBERT F. WORTH

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 22 -- A powerful bomb shattered the golden dome at one of Iraq's most revered Shiite shrines on Wednesday morning, setting off a day of sectarian fury in which mobs formed across Iraq to chant for revenge and attacked dozens of Sunni mosques.

The bombing, at the Askariya Shrine in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, wounded no one but left the famous golden dome at the site in ruins. The shrine is central to one of the most dearly held beliefs of Shiite Islam, and the bombing, coming after two days of bloody attacks that have left dozens of Shiite civilians dead, ignited a nationwide outpouring of rage and panic that seemed to bring Iraq closer than ever to outright civil war.

Shiite militia members flooded the streets of Baghdad, firing rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns at Sunni mosques while Iraqi Army soldiers who had been called out to stop the violence stood helpless nearby. By the day's end, mobs had struck or destroyed 27 Sunni mosques in the capital, killing three imams and kidnapping a fourth, Interior Ministry officials said. In all, at least 15 people were killed in related violence across the country.

Thousands of grief-stricken people in Samarra crowded into the shrine's courtyard after the bombing, some weeping and kissing the fallen stones, others angrily chanting, "Our blood and souls we sacrifice for you, imams!"

Iraq's major political and religious leaders issued urgent appeals for restraint, and Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari called for a three-day mourning period in a televised address. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most senior Shiite cleric, released an unusually strong statement in which he said, "If the government's security forces cannot provide the necessary protection, the believers will do it."

Most Iraqi leaders attributed the attack to terrorists bent on exploiting sectarian rifts, but some also blamed the United States for failing to prevent it. Even the leader of Iraq's main Shiite political alliance said he thought Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador to Iraq, bore some responsibility. The Shiite leader, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, said Mr. Khalilzad's veiled threat on Monday to withdraw American support if Iraqis could not form a nonsectarian government helped provoke the bombing. "This declaration gave a green light for these groups to do their operation, so he is responsible for a part of that," Mr. Hakim said at a news conference.

The shrine bombing came as Iraq's political leaders continued to struggle under heavy American pressure to agree on the principles of a new national unity government. As in past moments of political transition here, violence has mounted during the uncertainty, and the attacks, mostly against Shiite civilians, seemed aimed specifically at creating more conflict between Iraq's Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni Arab populations. That effort had at least a momentary success on Wednesday, and the streets of the capital emptied as Iraqis hurried home early, fearing further attacks by Shiite militia members or possible reprisals by Sunni Arabs.

Mr. Khalilzad issued a joint statement with Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top American commander in Iraq, in which he deplored the bombing as a "crime against humanity" and pledged American help in rebuilding the dome. In Washington, President Bush issued a statement extending his sympathy to Iraqis. "The United States condemns this cowardly act in the strongest possible terms," Mr. Bush said. "I ask all Iraqis to exercise restraint in the wake of this tragedy, and to pursue justice in accordance with the laws and Constitution of Iraq."

The Shiite cleric and political leader Moktada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia led many of the violent protests on Wednesday, placed some blame on what he called the "occupation forces" for the bombing but did not give more details. Mr. Sadr told the Arabic satellite network Al Jazeera that he was cutting short his visit in Lebanon because of the bombing.

The attack in Samarra began at 7 a.m., when a dozen men dressed in paramilitary uniforms entered the shrine and handcuffed four guards who were sleeping in a back room, a spokesman for the provincial governor's office said. The attackers then placed a bomb in the dome and detonated it, collapsing most of the structure and heavily damaging an adjoining wall.

The shrine is one of four major Shiite shrines in Iraq, and the site has special meaning because 2 of the 12 imams revered by mainstream Shiites are buried there: Ali al-Hadi, who died in A.D. 868 and his son, the 11th imam, Hassan al-Askari. Also, according to legend, the 12th Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, known as the "Hidden Imam," was at the site of the shrine before he disappeared.

These figures resonate with Iraqi Shiites, whose traditions have long been shaped by violence with the rival Sunni sect. At an earlier time of rising tensions, the 10th imam was forced from his home in Medina by the powerful Sunni caliph in Baghdad and was sent to live in Samarra, where he could be kept under closer supervision. Both he and his son were believed to have been poisoned by the caliphate.

Fearing such persecution, Muhammad al-Mahdi, who was just a child when he became the 12th imam, was hidden away in a cave, where he held forth through intermediaries for about 70 years. Then he is said to have gone into what Shiites call occultation, a kind of suspended state from which it is believed he will return before the Judgment Day to bring justice during a time of chaos.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but some Iraqi officials pointed a finger at Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the terrorist group believed to be responsible for many of the attacks on Shiite civilians and mosques in the past two years.

Samarra's population is mostly Sunni Arab, and it was a haven for insurgents until 2004, when American and Iraqi troops carried out a major operation to retake the city and the Golden Mosque from guerrilla fighters. But the insurgents have filtered back since then, and American troops in and around the city are now regularly attacked.

Shops soon closed across the country as angry mobs filled the streets. In Kirkuk, about a thousand Shiites marched in the streets, chanting against America, members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, and Takfiris, a word used to describe militant Islamists who denounce other Muslims as infidels. Similar demonstrations broke out in Baquba, Najaf, Karbala, and other cities. In the southern Shiite city of Basra, Shiite militia members damaged at least two Sunni mosques, killing an imam, and launched an attack on the headquarters of Iraq's best-known Sunni Arab political party. One man was killed in the gun battle that ensued and 14 were wounded, the police said.

Later, the Basra police took 10 foreign Arabs who had been jailed in connection with terrorist attacks from their cells and shot them dead, apparently in retaliation for the shrine bombing, a police official said.

Ayatollah Sistani issued another statement on Wednesday warning the faithful not to attack any Sunni holy sites. But it was too late: angry mobs had already begun shooting and firing rocket-propelled grenades, and setting some mosques on fire. Imams at three Baghdad mosques -- Al Sabar, Al Yaman, and Al Rashidi -- were killed, Interior Ministry officials said. A fourth imam, Sheik Abdul Qadir Sabih Nori of the Amjed al-Zahawi mosque, was kidnapped, the officials said.

The violence was not confined to big cities. In Salman Pak, a town just south of Baghdad, Shiite militia members evacuated a Sunni mosque and a religious school, warning the imam that he would be killed if he did not leave the town within two days.

Sunni Arab political leaders mixed their denunciations of the shrine bombing with anger at the attacks on Sunni mosques. Tarik al-Hashimi, the leader of the Iraq Islamic Party, Iraq's best-known Sunni political group, urged Iraqis to "confront the criminals and put a stop to these crimes before it is too late."

Adnan Dulaimi, another Sunni leader, told Al Jazeera that he thought the attacks on Sunni mosques had been planned before the Samarra bombing as part of a broader vendetta against Sunnis.

In Sadr City, the vast Shiite slum in Baghdad, flatbed trucks bristled with black-clad militia fighters carrying guns. Leaning out car windows, men with grenade launchers pointed at them menacingly.

"If I could find the people who did this, I would cut him into pieces," said Abdel Jaleel al-Sudani, a 50-year-old employee of the Health Ministry, who said he had marched in a demonstration earlier. "I would rather hear of the death of a friend than to hear this news."

Reporting for this article was contributed by Sabrina Tavernise, Mona Mahmoud, Khalid al-Ansary, Omar al-Neami and Qais Mizher from Baghdad, and by Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Basra, Kirkuk, Najaf, and Karbala. John Kifner contributed from New York.