| Page 2 of 3 < > |
Sunnis Close Mosques to Protest Killings
Children help remove religious books from a Shiite mosque in Baghdad after it was targeted by a car bomb. The blast killed at least two people and wounded five. (Reuters)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
"More steps will follow if our sons and our mosques will be exposed to these massacres," he said.
"Give us the order, and we will destroy the world for you," a young man told the cleric after prayers.
Checks of Baghdad's Sunni mosques after the service showed them locked.
In Islam, faithful are called upon to pray five times a day. Although only the most observant go to mosques outside of Friday prayers, closing mosques as a form of protest is rare. Samarrai said the move was a first for Iraq.
Jaffar Sadiq, a Sunni vendor of spare parts, said shutting down the mosques would draw the world's attention to the error of U.S.-guided policy in Iraq. "It's something amazing to close a mosque," he said. "Every Muslim in the world will hear this, and he will go crazy and ask, why are we doing this?"
"We know the terrorists are trying to incite sectarian war, but they will not succeed," said a Shiite, Haider Abdul Hameed, who was following Saghir in prayer when the mortars struck.
"I wish they would abolish these words of 'Sunnis' and 'Shiites,' " said bookstore owner Mohammed Hindawy, another Shiite worshiper. "I appeal to wise men on all sides to calm things down or we will see a blood bath here."
Saghir, in his sermon, accused Sunni clerics of aligning with the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Jordanian-born Abu Musab Zarqawi, by trying to draw Iraq into religious war.
Many recent killings of Sunnis have been attributed to the Badr organization, a militia tied to Hakim's Supreme Council, and to Shiites in Iraq's new security forces. The secretary general of the Badr militia, Hadi Amiri, said Iraqi security forces must distinguish between insurgents and innocent Sunnis. "That's the way to get through the difficult time the country is in now," Amiri said by telephone.
Also Friday:
ยท Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari, visiting Turkey in his first trip abroad since taking office last month, said Iraq would send a delegation to Syria soon to ask that country to help stop the flow of insurgents into Iraq, news agencies reported. Iraq and the United States accuse Syria of allowing open movement of fighters and arms across the border.
