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02/23/2006:
"NOON:Iran leader blames U.S., Israel for mosque blast"
Ahmadinejad says ‘defeated Zionists and occupiers’ destroyed golden domeTEHRAN, Iran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed the United States and Israel on Thursday for the destruction of a Shiite shrine’s golden dome in Iraq, saying it was the work of “defeated Zionists and occupiers.”
Speaking to a crowd of thousands on a tour of southwestern Iran, the president referred to the destruction of the Askariya mosque dome in Samarra on Wednesday, which the Iraqi government has blamed on insurgents.
“They invade the shrine and bomb there because they oppose God and justice,” Ahmadinejad said, referring to the U.S.-led multinational forces in Iraq.
“These passive activities are the acts of a group of defeated Zionists and occupiers who intended to hit our emotions,” he said in a speech that was broadcast on state television. Addressing the United States, he added: “You have to know that such an act will not save you from the anger of Muslim nations.”
The bombing set off a string of sectarian attacks in Iraq. Angry crowds thronged the streets, militiamen attacked Sunni mosques and at least 19 people were killed.
msnbc.msn.com
Sectarian Violence Rips Through Iraq
130 killed as Sunnis, Shiites trade accusations after mosque bombing
BAGHDAD, Iraq - More than 130 people, including dozens who joined a demonstration against sectarian violence, were killed in bloodshed across Iraq despite calls for calm on Thursday from leaders, including President Bush, fearful of civil war.
A day after a suspected al-Qaida bomb destroyed a major Shiite shrine, Iraq cancelled all leave for the police and army and minority Sunni political leaders pulled out of U.S.-backed talks on forming a national unity government, accusing the ruling Shiites of fomenting dozens of attacks on Sunni mosques.
Washington, which wants stability in Iraq to help it extract around 130,000 U.S. troops, has also called for restraint, reflecting international fears that the oil-exporting country of 27 million may be slipping closer to all-out sectarian war.
But the main Sunni religious authority made an extraordinary public criticism of the Shiites’ most revered clerical leader, accusing him of fuelling the violence by calling for protests.
President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, pressed ahead despite the Sunni boycott with a meeting that he had called to avert a descent towards a civil war. After discussions with Shiites, Kurds and leaders of a smaller Sunni group, he told a televised news conference that if all-out war came “no one will be safe.”
Police and military sources tallied more than 130 deaths, mostly of Sunnis, around the two biggest cities Baghdad and Basra in the 24 hours since the bloodless but highly symbolic bombing of the Shiite Golden Mosque in Samarra. Dozens of Sunni mosques have been attacked and several burnt to the ground.
In the bloodiest single incident, officials said 47 people who had taken part in a joint Sunni and Shiite demonstration against the Samarra bombing were hauled from vehicles after they left and shot dead on the outskirts of the capital. The identities of the gunmen and the victims was not clear.
They were all dumped in a ditch beside the road, said Dhary Thoaban, deputy chairman of the Diyala regional council. Earlier, there had been conflicting accounts of the incident but police and military officials all confirmed Thaoban’s version.
The Interior Ministry said all police and army leave was cancelled, curfews were extended as the country locks down for three days of national mourning. Universities postponed Saturday’s start of the spring semester by nearly three weeks.
Four American soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were killed when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Thursday. The soldiers were assigned to the division's 1st Brigade Combat Team and were killed while on patrol Wednesday near Hawijah, 150 miles north of Baghdad, the command said in a statement.
A bomb blasted an Iraqi army foot patrol in a market in the religiously divided city of Baquoba, killing 16 people.
Three journalists working for Al Arabiya television were found shot dead after being attacked while filming in Samarra.
Iraqi police and army officials said at least 40 bodies were found in one spot just south of Baghdad. It was not clear if the number included 53 people already reported by police to have died in Baghdad since Wednesday's bombing.
At least 25 people were killed in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, police said. A bomb targeting an Iraqi army foot patrol killed 12 people and wounded 21 in the city of Baqouba, 40 miles northeast of Baghdad on Thursday, an army source said.
