Shiite holy site's minarets fall to suspected al-Qaida bombers

BAGHDAD -- Suspected al-Qaida bombers toppled the towering minarets of Samarra's revered Shiite shrine on Wednesday, dealing a bold blow to Iraqi hopes for peace and reopening old wounds a year after the mosque's Golden Dome was destroyed.

The attack stoked fears of a surge in violence between Muslim sects. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government rushed to contain Shiite wrath against Sunnis: It clamped a curfew on Baghdad and asked for U.S. troop reinforcements in Samarra and for a heightened American military alert in the capital.

But sketchy reports of sectarian strife began to come in. Police told of at least four Sunni mosques in Baghdad and south of the capital attacked by arsonists and bombers, and of a smaller Shiite shrine bombed north of Baghdad.

The Samarra attack also threatened to deepen Iraq's political crisis, as the 30-member bloc of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr immediately suspended its participation in parliament in protest.

The Golden Dome bombing in February 2006, at one of Iraqi Shiism's holiest sites, was also blamed on Sunni militants linked to al-Qaida. That attack unleashed a bloodbath of reprisals -- of Shiite death-squad murders of Sunnis and Sunni bombing attacks on Shiites. At least 34,000 civilians died in last year's violence, the United Nations reported.

Wednesday's stunning attack came in near-simultaneous explosions about 9 a.m., completely bringing down the two slender golden minarets, 100 feet tall, that had flanked the dome's ruins. No casualties were reported.

How the attackers evaded the Askariya shrine's guard force, strengthened considerably after the 2006 bombing, was a mystery.

Al-Maliki said policemen at the shrine were detained for questioning -- 15 of them, according to a senior U.S. military official. The prime minister also said an unspecified number of other suspects were arrested in Samarra and were being interrogated in connection with the shrine attack.

The blasts shook the Tigris River-side city of Samarra, sending a cloud of dust billowing into the air, said Imad Nagi, a store owner 100 yards from the shrine. "After the dust settled, I couldn't see the minarets anymore. So, I closed the shop quickly and went home."

Nearby blacksmith shop owner Farouq al-Samaraie said, "I didn't expect there would be another explosion at Askariya mosque because it was already attacked last year."

Resident Abdul-Khali Mohammed predicted violence in the capital: "The Shiite militias now will seize this opportunity to kill Sunni families in Baghdad."

An indefinite curfew was immediately imposed on Samarra, and, as Iraqi army and police reinforcements and U.S. troops poured in, the streets emptied by mid-afternoon, witnesses said.

A few hundred U.S. soldiers had been stationed around Samarra but had left shrine security to Iraqi forces.

In Baghdad, the prime minister ordered an indefinite curfew, beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday, on vehicle traffic and large gatherings in the capital. Al-Maliki, whose office said the curfew would be lifted Saturday, then traveled to Samarra with U.S. ground forces commander Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno and visited the mosque ruins.

An official close to the prime minister, citing intelligence reports, said Wednesday's bombing was likely the work of al-Qaida, whose militants have recently moved into Samarra from surrounding areas.

A U.S. statement, from Ambassador Ryan Crocker and U.S. Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus, unequivocally blamed al-Qaida, saying the terror group sought "to sow dissent and inflame sectarian strife."

Such an attack by the Sunni extremist group al-Qaida in Iraq, increasingly at odds with more nationalist Iraqi insurgents, might have been intended to provoke Shiite retaliation that would help reunite various Sunni elements.

In Washington, presidential spokesman Tony Snow said "there will be aggressive outreach on all sides" to try to prevent reprisal attacks. "What happened after the original bombing of the mosque in Samarra -- I don't think the Iraqi government or the United States government quite understood what was going to happen, in terms of a sectarian reaction," Snow said.

Petraeus told ABC News that although he initially had a "terrible sinking feeling" after the attack, he believes there is reason to be optimistic in the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq.

"There is even some hope, perhaps, that al-Qaida may have overplayed its hand, as it did in Anbar Province, as it has in some neighborhoods in Baghdad, and in some other areas where, as you know, Sunni Arabs have rejected al-Qaida and have actually sought to join coalition forces and Iraqi governmental institutions to fight against it."

Last year's surge in execution-style killings, largely blamed on Shiite militias, had begun to decline in Baghdad in February, at the start of a major U.S.-Iraqi security push to pacify the city. But violence has been on the rise elsewhere in Iraq and the Baghdad numbers have begun to rise again.

On Wednesday, in what has become a routine report, Baghdad police said they found 25 handcuffed, blindfolded and bullet-riddled bodies in various locations, many with signs of torture.

The al-Maliki aide and other Iraqi officials spoke on condition of anonymity, either because of the sensitivity of the matter or because they were not authorized to deal with the media.

In a nationally televised address, al-Maliki said he had ordered security forces to bolster protection of religious shrines and mosques across Iraq. The Shiite prime minister also warned against reprisal sectarian attacks.

In Shiite southern Iraq, the reaction to Wednesday's attack was swift. In Najaf, radical cleric al-Sadr called for a three-day mourning period and peaceful demonstrations. He criticized the government for not protecting the site, and said the U.S. occupation is "the only enemy of Iraq" and "that's why everyone must demand its departure," or a timetable for its departure.

More than 3,000 al-Sadr loyalists staged a protest in Najaf, chanting, "No, no to America!", "No, no to Israel!" and "No, no to sedition!"

Later, in Baghdad, the 30-member Sadrist bloc in parliament issued a statement saying it would boycott the 275-seat house until the government takes "realistic" steps to rebuild the shrine.

The action by the Sadrists, whose support for al-Maliki has recently waned, is likely to weaken the Shiite-dominated government and delay adoption of a series of laws needed to build national reconciliation in Iraq.

Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, issued a statement calling on "believers to exercise self-restraint and avoid any vengeful act that would target innocent people or the holy places of others."

In neighboring Shiite Iran, which has been accused of funding and arming Shiite militias in Iraq, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed U.S. forces for failing to prevent the mosque attack, and threatened to halt regional cooperation to stop Iraq's spiraling violence.

The mosque contains the tombs of the 10th and 11th imams -- Ali al-Hadi, who died in 868, and his son Hassan al-Askari, who died in 874. Both are descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, and Shiites consider them to be among his successors.

The shrine also is near the place where the 12th imam, Mohammed al-Mahdi, disappeared. Al-Mahdi, known as the "hidden imam," was the son and grandson of the two imams buried in the Askariya shrine. Shiites believe he will return to Earth to restore justice to humanity.