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| Iraq |
| Several Sunni mosques in Iraq attacked |
| 2007-06-14 |
| A handful of Sunni mosques were attacked or burned Thursday, but curfews and increased troop levels kept Iraq in relative calm a day after suspected al-Qaida bombers toppled the towering minarets of a prized Shiite shrine. ... Attacks on Sunni mosques began within hours of Wednesday's bombings in Samarra. Police in the southern city of Basra said four people were killed and six wounded in attacks on the Kawaz, Othman, al-Abayshi and Basra Grand mosques on Wednesday, all involving rocket-propelled grenades that also damaged the buildings. Basra is Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad. Four Sunni mosques near Baghdad also were attacked or burned within several hours of the Samarra bombings, police said. One of those mosques, which had been only partly destroyed, was a target again Thursday, police said. Around 4 a.m., attackers broke into the Hateen mosque in Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad, and planted bombs inside. Flames from a huge explosion destroyed most of the building, and a woman and child in a nearby apartment were wounded, an Iskandariyah police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. Gunmen also tried to storm the nearby al-Mustafa mosque, and exchanged fire with guards before Iraqi soldiers arrived and stopped them, police said. There were no immediate reports of casualties. In Mahaweel, 35 miles south of Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on the al-Basheer mosque at dawn, police said. They forced guards to leave, then set fire to the mosque, a local police officer said on the same condition of anonymity. The building was partly damaged, he said. ... Also Thursday, the U.S. military said it detained 25 suspects in raids against al-Qaida in Iraq in the past two days. One taken into custody near Tarmiyah, 30 miles north of Baghdad, was believed to be a close associate of Omar al-Baghdadi, who heads the al-Qaida front group Islamic State in Iraq. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #3 "Toppled ... towering minarets" Isn't there a pill for that? |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-06-14 23:52 |
| #2 Hotair According to the Times, “the shrine had been under the protection of local — predominantly Sunni — guards. But American military and Iraqi security officials had recently become concerned that the local unit had been infiltrated by Al Qaeda forces in Iraq.” Why the Shiite-run Ministry of Interior would have wanted mostly Sunni guards minding a Shiite shrine that had once notoriously been bombed by Sunnis is completely beyond me. But Sadr has already exploited the incident, withdrawing his MPs from parliament to protest government impotence and blaming the incident on the occupation. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-06-14 10:23 |
| #1 I dont know who i dislike more the Sunnis sponsored by Saudi or the Shiites sponsored by Iran. Heck just hate the both of them its easier!!!! |
| Posted by: Paul 2007-06-14 10:05 |