A car bomb killed six people Saturday near a Shiite shrine south of Baghdad,
and the death toll from the deadliest attack of the year rose to nearly 90. A
senior official warned Iraq was in an "undeclared civil war" that can be curbed
only by a strong government and greater powers for security services.
Iraqi mourners lay
their heads on the coffin of a policeman who was killed in Friday's
suicide attack on the Buratha mosque which killed 79 people and wounded
more than 160 Saturday April 8, 2006 in Najaf, 160 km (100) miles south of
Baghdad, Iraq. Relatives and friends of Shiite Muslims killed in a deadly
mosque attack buried their dead Saturday, carrying coffins through the
streets, chanting religious rites and beating their heads and chests.
[AP] |
With sectarian tensions rising, U.S. Marines on Saturday beat back the
largest attack in weeks by Sunni Arab insurgents in the western city of Ramadi —
another sign of the crisis facing this country three years after Baghdad fell to
U.S. forces.
The car bomb exploded at a small shrine in the Euphrates River town of
Musayyib, 40 miles south of Baghdad. Police said most of the six dead and 14
wounded were Shiite pilgrims visiting the shrine.
Fears of more attacks are running high in Shiite areas following the Thursday
car bombing that killed 10 in the Shiite holy city of Najaf and the suicide
attack the following day against a Shiite mosque in Baghdad — the deadliest
attack in Iraq this year.
The attacks on houses of worship have stoked tensions between Shiite and
Sunni Muslims, especially after the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in
Samarra, an act that triggered reprisal attacks against Sunni mosques and
clerics.
Despite the violence, U.S. officials have discounted talk of civil war.
However, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday that an "undeclared civil war"
had already been raging for more than a year.
"Is there a civil war? Yes, there is an undeclared civil war that has been
there for a year or more," Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal told The Associated Press.
"All these bodies that are discovered in Baghdad, the slaughter of pilgrims
heading to holy sites, the explosions, the destruction, the attacks against the
mosques are all part of this."
His comments were echoed by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
"Civil war has almost started among Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and those who are
coming from Asia. The situation is uneasy and I don't know how would Iraq be
brought together," Mubarak said in an interview broadcast Saturday on Al-Arabiya
satellite television.
Kamal said the country would still be spared from all-out sectarian war "if a
strong government is formed, if the security forces are given wide powers and if
they are able to defeat the terrorists."
"Then we might be able to overcome this crisis," he said.
The death toll from the Friday bombing of the Buratha mosque in north Baghdad
rose to 85 because some of the wounded died, Dr. Riyadh Abdul Ameer of the
Health Ministry said. Officials said the death toll could rise because of severe
injuries among the 156 people wounded in the attack by suicide bombers,
including one dressed as a woman.
Also Saturday, Sunni insurgents launched their strongest attack in six weeks
against the Anbar provincial government headquarters in Ramadi, 75 miles west of
Baghdad. There were no U.S. casualties, Marines said.
A U.S. Air Force F-18 fighter bombed insurgent positions, unleashing
thunderous explosions that shook the city. U.S. Marines guarding the government
headquarters fought back with anti-tank rockets, machine guns and small arms
fire.
Sporadic shooting occurred around the government building after sunset, and
an Iraqi soldier was killed Saturday in a separate fight in Ramadi, U.S.
officials said. Three Iraqi soldiers were wounded in a clash with insurgents in
Fallujah, about 30 miles east of Ramadi, police said.
The U.S. military reported Saturday that a U.S. Marine died from wounds
suffered in hostile action the day before in Anbar province but gave no further
details.
The New York Times reported in its online edition Saturday that an internal
staff report by the U.S. Embassy and the military command rated overall
stability of six of Iraq's 18 provinces "serious" and one "critical." The report
was dated Jan. 31, the Times said.
The newspaper said provinces where overall stability was rated "serious"
included Baghdad and oil-rich Basra, where Shiite militias wield considerable
influence. Anbar province, which includes Ramadi and Fallujah, was rated
"critical," the newspaper said.
"This report should be seen in the broader context of development in Iraq as
it relates to the economy, governance and security," Dan Speckhard, the U.S.
reconstruction chief for Iraq, said in a statement.
He said significant progress was being made in economic development and local
governance after "decades of mismanagement" by Saddam Hussein's regime.
Efforts to form a strong, broadbased government including Sunnis, Shiites and
Kurds have stalled over Sunni and Kurdish opposition to Prime Minister Ibrahim
al-Jaafari, the Shiite candidate to lead the next administration. Opponents
accuse al-Jaafari of failing to stem sectarian violence.
However, al-Jaafari has refused to step aside, and his Shiite coalition has
been reluctant to reconsider his nomination for fear of splintering their ranks.
Shiite officials were to meet, possibly as soon as Sunday, to discuss the
stalemate at the urging of the country's top Shiite leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali
al-Sistani.
Al-Jaafari's allies suggested the meeting would be to affirm the prime
minister's nomination, which he won by a single vote during balloting last
February among Shiite lawmakers who won seats in parliament in the December
elections.
"So far, we still have one candidate ... and that is Dr. Ibrahim al-Jaafari,"
Jawad al-Maliki, a key member of the prime minister's Dawa party. said. "If
there is an opinion to be discussed within the alliance, then it must be
discussed through ... democratic means."
Al-Maliki said he understood that al-Sistani wanted the alliance to resolve
the crisis "but I did not hear a call" for al-Jaafari to step down. But he added
that "anything is possible."
Khalid al-Attiyah, an independent member of the Shiite alliance, said several
options were under discussion, including replacing al-Jaafari with Vice
President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, who lost the February vote.
But al-Attiyah said al-Jaafari's party would oppose that. Abdul-Mahdi is a
member of the largest Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq.
Other proposals include naming another candidate from Dawa or someone not
affiliated with either of the two big Shiite parties, al-Attiyah said.
In other developments Saturday:
? Police found four headless bodies showing signs of torture that were dumped
on a farm about 20 miles north of Baghdad.
? A mortar round hit a house near the Education Ministry in central Baghdad,
killing two men, police said.
_Gunmen killed a Shiite cigarette vendor and police found the body of a man
killed by a roadside bomb near a highway.