More mosques in Iraq attacked

[Joe98]

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSCOL02152020070614


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three Sunni Muslim mosques were attacked and burned south of Baghdad on Thursday, Iraqi police said, in apparent reprisal attacks after suspected al Qaeda militants blew up the minarets of a revered Shi'ite shrine.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi and U.S. soldiers were on the streets of Baghdad and other cities enforcing curfews imposed after Wednesday's bombing at Samarra's al-Askari mosque toppled its two golden minarets.

An attack on the same mosque in February 2006 unleashed waves of sectarian violence in which tens of thousands of people were killed, tipping Iraq close to all-out civil war between majority Shi'ite Muslims and minority Sunni Arabs.

The latest Samarra attack, condemned by U.S. President George W. Bush and other world leaders, immediately raised fears of similar retaliatory violence. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered an extra brigade of Iraqi security forces to Samarra.

"We want to make sure we don't see a repeat of what happened after February 2006," U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver said.

The streets of Samarra were quiet on Thursday, but there was a grim mood as Iraqi soldiers fanned out around the mainly Sunni city. Residents said military snipers could be seen on rooftops.

Others said U.S. soldiers were seen in Samarra but Garver said they were only helping Iraqis with transport and other specialized roles. "We are not providing troops on the ground for security reasons. This is an Iraqi-run operation," he said.

While Samarra was quiet, violence spilled over in Baghdad and other towns and cities to the south.

Police said unidentified gunmen on Thursday attacked the al-Mustafa and Huteen mosques in the town of Iskandariya, where the Sunni Grand Mosque was destroyed on Wednesday. The al-Bashir mosque in nearby Mahaweel was also attacked. Continued...



The US should leave Iraq so it doesn’t get blamed