A suspected shoe bomber targeting a Shiite imam
who criticized Abu Musab al-Zarqawi blew himself up inside one of Baghdad's most
prominent mosques during Friday prayers, killing 13 people and shattering a
fragile calm imposed by a security crackdown in the capital.
Elsewhere, a soldier in the U.S.-led coalition was killed and two others were
missing after an attack on a checkpoint, the U.S. military said. The incident
took place about 8 p.m. Friday near the town of Yusufiyah, some 12 miles
southwest of Baghdad.
The bombing of the Buratha mosque, one of several attacks nationwide, was
carried out despite a four-hour driving ban intended to prevent suicide car
bombs during Friday prayers, the main religious service of the week.
Buratha's imam, a leading Shiite politician, blamed al-Qaida in Iraq for the
attack. He said the terror group was trying to reassert itself after the death
of its leader in a U.S. airstrike last week.
"Al-Qaida is trying to restore some respect after the killing of the terror
leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi by targeting one of the leading Shiite clerics, but
they will fail," said the imam, Jalal Eddin al-Sagheer.
The imam, who was not injured, said the bombing came after guards found two
pair of explosive-laden shoes outside the mosque. The guards entered the mosque
and began searching everyone who had carried their shoes inside, he said.
When they approached the attacker, he detonated what would have been a third
pair of explosive-laden shoes, he said.
"The guards discovered two pair of shoes full of explosives. That got them to
start searching all the worshippers. When one of them tried to search the
suicide bomber, he blew himself up," al-Sagheer said.
But the Interior Ministry, noting the scale of destruction, suggested the
attacker may have detonated a vest rather than shoes. Police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud
said the attacker was indeed wearing a suicide vest.
The device contained metal balls and fragments, according to an Interior
Ministry police officer who could not be named because he was not authorized to
speak to reporters. Metal balls and fragments could fit into either shoes or a
vest.
AP Television News footage showed a large scorch mark in the middle of the
mosque. Blood was spattered across the turquoise- and gold-trimmed tiled walls
and white ceiling. The bomber was beheaded and dismembered by the blast, which
Mahmoud said killed 13 and wounded 28.
It was the second attack on the Buratha mosque in just over two months. On
April 7, four suicide bombers, including a woman, set off their explosives
during Friday prayers, killing at least 85 worshippers. The U.S. military blamed
al-Zarqawi.
Al-Sagheer, a member of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's United Iraqi
Alliance, said the terror group had threatened to kill him in an Internet
posting this week. A similar warning preceded the April attack, he said.
He said al-Qaida accused him in the latest posting of being behind deaths
squads targeting Palestinians living in Baghdad. Since the Saddam Hussein era, a
large contingent of Palestinians, who are Sunni Arabs, has lived in Baghdad.
On Friday, Al-Jazeera aired an audio tape of a key insurgency leader calling
the killing of al-Zarqawi a "great loss" but saying it will strengthen the
militants' determination.
The broadcaster identified the voice as that of Abu Abdullah Rashid
al-Baghdadi, the head of the Mujahedeen Shura Council, which groups five Iraqi
insurgent organizations including al-Qaida in Iraq. The authenticity of the tape
could not immediately be verified.
Significantly, the speaker does not mention the man identified by the U.S. as
al-Qaida in Iraq's choice to replace al-Zarqawi — Abu Ayub al-Masri, also known
as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer. The lack of such a reference may suggest that
al-Baghdadi does not support him.
On Tuesday, al-Qaida in Iraq had issued a statement vowing to avenge
al-Zarqawi's death and threatening horrific attacks. The next day, Iraqi
authorities launched a security operation with 75,000 troops fanning out on the
streets of Baghdad.
There has been a slight decrease in the number of Iraqis reported killed
since al-Zarqawi died June 7. In the nine days before the airstrike, 307 Iraqis
were killed compared with 262 in the nine subsequent days, according to an
Associated Press tally.
The U.S. military said a "high-ranking terrorist network commander" linked to
the deaths of at least seven coalition soldiers in roadside bombs was captured
in the Shiite holy city of Karbala.
The suspect, identified as Sheik Aqeel, was captured by Iraqi soldiers who
conducted a raid Thursday assisted by coalition advisers. They also seized
another terror suspect and a substantial weapons cache, it said.
"Aqeel commands a Karbala terrorist network and is wanted for assassinating
Iraqi citizens and planning and ordering attacks against Iraqi and coalition
forces," the military said.
The 40-member local council in Karbala suspended its operations and demanded
an apology Thursday after police said U.S. forces raided the house of council
leader Aqil al-Zubeidi, a member of the Shiite Fadila Party, and arrested him
and two other council members. Council spokesman Ghalib al-Daimi denied that
al-Zubeidi had any links to terrorism.
Deputy Prime Minister Salam Zikam Ali al-Zubaie, responding to a news report,
confirmed that Iraq has an agreement to take over security responsibilities from
foreign forces in southern Iraq this month. Coalition troops would likely remain
in the area with the Iraqis taking the lead.
In Baghdad, Deputy Justice Minister Busho Ibrahim said militias had
infiltrated the Iraqi prison system. The justice ministry asked the U.S. to
postpone transferring control of coalition detention centers to Iraqis until the
problem is resolved. The U.S. reiterated it will not hand over such facilities
to Iraqi authorities until they have demonstrated higher standards of care.
Lt. Col. Kier-Kevin Curry, a spokesman for U.S. military detainee operations,
also said in an e-mail that Abu Ghraib will be transferred to the Iraqi
government after the inmates there are moved to a new prison at Camp Cropper
later this summer.
U.S. special operations forces fed some Iraqi detainees only bread and water
for up to 17 days, used unapproved interrogation practices such as sleep
deprivation and loud music and stripped at least one prisoner, according to a
Pentagon report on incidents dating to 2003 and 2004.
The report, with many portions blacked out, concludes that the detainees'
treatment was wrong but not illegal and reflected inadequate resources and lack
of oversight and proper guidance more than deliberate abuse. No military
personnel were punished as a result of the investigation.
