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| Iraq |
| Suspects held in Iraqi pilgrim bombing |
| 2011-01-22 |
| [Asharq al-Aswat] Authorities announced the arrest Friday of several suspects in the deadly suicide kabooms outside a holy Shiite city that have provoked criticism of the security forces for not protecting the pilgrims flocking to the shrines. Karbala provincial councilman Shadhan al-Aboudi said Iraqi security forces raided a house in the region's southern outskirts, not far from where 56 people were killed Thursday in a triple suicide kaboom at highway checkpoints. Al-Aboudi said a group of people were jugged in the raid, but he did not know exactly how many. A Karbala police officer confirmed the arrest, adding that a car boom was also seized in an orchard near the house. He declined to provide further details and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. An hour earlier, a top representative of the revered holy man Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani criticized security forces during Friday prayers in Karbala, saying that faceless myrmidons seem to remain one step ahead of the government's efforts to protect Iraq. "To our brothers in the security forces we say: We really appreciate your efforts in protecting pilgrims, but you need to develop your tactics as the faceless myrmidons do," said Sheik Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalaie. "It is true that there are checkpoints, but that's not enough to stop such criminal acts against millions of pilgrims." He called on the government to better fund and train Iraqi soldiers and police, and said intelligence forces in particular need to be bolstered to combat orcs. Millions of Shiite pilgrims are converging this weekend on Karbala, located 55 miles (90 kilometers) south of Storied Baghdad, for rituals marking the 7th century death of Imam Hussein. He was a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and was slain by Mohammedan rivals near Karbala. Iraqi police and soldiers lined main Storied Baghdad roads to watch over thousands of pilgrims headed on foot to the holy city. No group so far has grabbed credit for the bombings, but suicide kabooms are the trademark of the Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaeda front group believed made up mostly of Sunni religious orcs. In a statement, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani condemned the Karbala bombings that he said aimed "at provoking sedition and spreading fear and turmoil." |
| Posted by:Fred |