In aftermath of shrine bombing, 4 killed in fighting, at least 9 Sunni mosques hit
BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Four people died in sectarian fighting in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, and attackers struck at least nine Sunni mosques south of Baghdad in the aftermath of Wednesday's bombing of Al-Askariya Mosque, a major Shiite Muslim shrine in Samarra, police said Thursday.
Thousands of people in cities across Iraq staged angry but peaceful demonstrations protesting the second bombing at the shrine, which also was struck and badly damaged in February 2006 -- a major event that spawned the ongoing widespread Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence and population displacement in Iraq
The latest attack, which destroyed two minarets at the already badly damaged location, sparked calls for unity and calm from worried officials across the globe and in the Salaheddin province city of Samarra. Officials believe angry Shiites probably attacked the Sunni mosques but they don't discount the role of Sunni militants, such as al Qaeda in Iraq, in trying to fan sectarian discord.
"You are sons and grandsons of the two greatest imams who ever lived," said Salaheddin Gov. Hamed Hamoud Shekti, in a public announcement to the citizenry from the Askariya Mosque on Thursday morning. "Please stop the sabotage and destruction, and work on the aims and goals of the city." (Posted 10:51 a.m.)................................... I guess the surge really isn't working is it? Maybe we ought to consider the Baker solution, Eh?
