Iraqi Bust Nets Ring Smuggling Oil to Syria

Although the bust represented a major success for a government that has had trouble fighting insurgents and enforcing the law, at least 18 Iraqis were killed in violence on Friday, according to news reports and police officials.

In the city of Baqubah, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, two bombs exploded two minutes apart at Sunni mosques, tearing through crowds leaving after Friday prayers. The first bomb detonated at the Saad Ibn Maath mosque in the New Baqubah neighborhood, killing four people. The second went off at the Aqsa mosque in the western part of the city, killing two brothers and wounding their father, witnesses said.

The attacks continued a wave of violence in Baqubah. Shiite Muslim shrines in and near the city were bombed on Wednesday and Thursday, killing at least 20 people. The bombings were part of a surge in attacks on both Sunni and Shiite holy places since the destruction of a Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad, on Feb. 22 pushed the country to the brink of a sectarian war.

The head of the Saad Ibn Maath mosque, Yusuf al-Dulaimi, said the attacks on Sunni and Shiite mosques in Baqubah were carried out by the same people and intended to "stoke sectarian war."

"Whether Sunnis or Shiites, the victims are all Iraqis," Dulaimi said.

Meanwhile, the head of the leading Shiite mosque in Baghdad, where a triple suicide attack killed 79 people last Friday, castigated the prime minister for his response to the bombing.

"Where is our prime minister and his delegates for our wounded?" asked Jalaladdin al-Sagheer, the head of the Buratha mosque. "He did not bother himself to contact the wounded people, who were in every hospital. I received phone calls from foreign ambassadors and authorities from many countries, but our brother Jafari did not ever call."

Sagheer, known for his fiery speeches against Sunni leaders, said Jafari's conduct was particularly insulting because Sagheer's followers had been strong supporters of the main coalition of Shiite parties, of which Jafari is a member. However, the Buratha mosque is affiliated with the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a powerful Shiite party that opposes Jafari's nomination to a new term as prime minister.

"The street is so angry," Sagheer said. "Our Shiite leadership's instructions are to preserve the unity between Sunnis and Shiites, but there is a limit to patience, and we have reached the limit."

Special correspondents Naseer Nouri and Saad al-Izzi in Baghdad, Dlovan Brwari in Mosul and Hassan Shammari in Baqubah contributed to this report.