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Iraqi Insurgents Kill 20 Pilgrims
Iraqis in Baghdad mourn a relative who was killed on the way to the Imam Moussa Kadhim shrine. The U.S. military reported "relatively little violence."
(By Karim Kadim -- Associated Press)
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Sunni residents, meanwhile, said they were being attacked by members of Shiite militias who seemed bent on avenging the deaths of the estimated 1,000 pilgrims last year.
Makki, of the Iraqi Islamic Party, said Shiite militias, which he declined to identify, used mortars, Katyusha rockets and rocket-propelled grenades to attack Sunnis. He said the exact death toll was unknown because many Sunnis were afraid to visit Shiite-controlled hospitals.
Ahmed Abu Taha, a Sunni who lives near the city's Silikh district, said armed men wearing black clothes and green cloaks attacked a Sunni mosque with the support of Iraqi police. He said Sunnis begged members of the mainly Shiite Iraqi army for help, but they refused.
"Why is the Iraqi army not protecting the Iraqi people?" he said. The fighting did not stop until 3 p.m. when U.S. forces cordoned off the area, Taha said.
The Iraqi government and the U.S. military on Sunday night offered a positive assessment of the Iraqi security forces.
"These acts against innocent civilians are deplorable, but Iraqi Security Forces did an excellent job in preventing more needless loss of innocent civilian lives," Army Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of the Multinational Division Baghdad, said in a statement.
Maliki issued a statement condemning the violence, which he said had been carried out by Sunni insurgents and supporters of ousted president Saddam Hussein. But he said far fewer people died Sunday than in last year's stampede.
"The success of the police and army forces in preventing the terrorists from killing the innocents, even though a number of martyrs and injured people did fall, reflects the growing abilities of the Iraqi forces," Maliki said.
Special correspondents Saad al-Izzi and Naseer Nouri and other Washington Post staff contributed to this report.
