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Iraqi police grill 19 over Najaf massacre
Baghdad, Sep 01: Iraqi police were today questioning 19 suspects over the car bomb massacre in Najaf that killed a revered Muslim Shiite leader, as tens of thousands turned out in Baghdad and the holy city of Karbala for funeral marches.
Baghdad, Sep 01: Iraqi police were today questioning 19 suspects over the car bomb massacre in Najaf that killed a revered Muslim Shiite leader, as tens of thousands turned out in Baghdad and the holy city of Karbala for funeral marches.
US troops, meanwhile, moved into a district of the northern city of Mosul in force amid reports that Saddam Hussein might be hiding there.
And Najaf, where Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim died Friday when two cars exploded outside the mausoleum of Imam Ali in an attack that left at least 82 others dead and 125 wounded, was hit by fresh violence.
Friday`s bombing in Najaf, along with deadly attacks on the UN headquarters and the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, have fuelled fears that Iraq is spinning out of control five months into the US-led occupation.
It has also further angered many in Iraq`s Shiite community, who make up about 60 percent of the population but who were systematically oppressed by Saddam`s Sunni elite.
They partly blame us-led coalition forces for the Najaf massacre for failing to provide adequate security. Many mourners in Baghdad bayed for vengeance, and some brandished black pistols and Kalashnikov rifles, yelling "revenge, revenge" and vowing to take matters into their own hands, no longer prepared to wait for the Americans to restore order in the country.
Bureau Report
And Najaf, where Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim died Friday when two cars exploded outside the mausoleum of Imam Ali in an attack that left at least 82 others dead and 125 wounded, was hit by fresh violence.
Friday`s bombing in Najaf, along with deadly attacks on the UN headquarters and the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, have fuelled fears that Iraq is spinning out of control five months into the US-led occupation.
It has also further angered many in Iraq`s Shiite community, who make up about 60 percent of the population but who were systematically oppressed by Saddam`s Sunni elite.
They partly blame us-led coalition forces for the Najaf massacre for failing to provide adequate security. Many mourners in Baghdad bayed for vengeance, and some brandished black pistols and Kalashnikov rifles, yelling "revenge, revenge" and vowing to take matters into their own hands, no longer prepared to wait for the Americans to restore order in the country.
Bureau Report