Bombing Kills 10 Near Shiite Shrine

Karbala Cleric, Apparent Target, Is Hurt

KARBALA, Iraq, Dec. 15 -- A bomb exploded near one of Shiite Islam's most sacred shrines at the close of evening prayers here Wednesday, killing 10 people and wounding 41, including the cleric who represents Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in the holy city.

Abdel-Mahdi Salami, the apparent target of the attack, suffered shrapnel wounds to both legs, but aides said the injuries were not life-threatening. The bomb exploded at 5:45 p.m. as the cleric made his way from the shrine of Imam Hussein toward his modest home and office along a narrow alley, a route he travels at regular intervals four times each day.

The blast damaged the western wall of the shrine, which is adorned by one of two splendid domes in the heart of Karbala, often called the second-holiest city in Shiite Islam. The tidy city is a destination for pilgrims who under normal circumstances impart a sense of both serenity and festivity.

"The whole thing was targeting Abdel-Mahdi Karbalai," said Hassanain Ali Abdel-Zahra, a clothing store owner, using the name by which Salami is known in Karbala. "They're trying to start strife among the Shiite people."

The attack came as Iraq continued preparing for Jan. 30 elections. Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority regards the vote as its best opportunity to gain power in a country historically governed by Sunni Muslims. Sunni Arabs make up about 20 percent of Iraq's 25 million people, while Kurds, who are also Sunnis but whose primary identity is ethnic, account for another 20 percent.

A spokesman for Sistani, who lives in Najaf, 50 miles south of Karbala, condemned the attack. Sistani, widely regarded as the most influential figure in the country since the fall of President Saddam Hussein, appointed the overseers who last week assembled a list of candidates that largely consolidated major Shiite political parties on a single slate.

"We denounce this operation because of its effect on the political process, the social situation and religious affairs in Karbala," said Hamad Khafaf, the spokesman.

At Hussein Hospital, a crowd that included many clerics who support Sistani, as well as turbaned religious students, pushed against blue-shirted Iraqi police officers blocking the entrance. A police colonel pulled his pistol at one point to quiet the crowd.

Salah Hasnawi, the city's health director, said the facility was running short of blood and medical supplies to treat the wounded. It was the worst terrorist strike in the city since multiple suicide bombs killed more than 100 during a ritual march of mourning to the city March 2.

The apparent assassination attempt threatened to raise sectarian tensions in the country in advance of the election, which a primarily Sunni insurgency has threatened to disrupt.

Earlier Wednesday, the defense minister in Iraq's interim government mocked the Shiite slate as "the Iranian list" and accused the Sistani associate who organized it of being an Iranian agent. Iran, which shares a long border with Iraq, is ruled by Shiite clerics.

"Iran runs a major terrorist ring inside Iraq," Hazim Shalan, the defense minister, told reporters. "This state is the prime enemy of Iraq."

Shalan, who was criticized after making similar allegations about Iran last summer, also accused Syria of interfering, saying the neighboring state supported the Sunni insurgency. Both countries denied the charges.

In Washington, President Bush warned Iraq's neighbors against interfering in the election.