17 reported dead in holy shrine blast
The Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV network has reported the death toll in a car bomb attack at an Iraqi holy shrine was at least 17.
Dozens were injured in a car bombing during Friday prayers at the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf, the most holy shrine for Shiite Muslims in Iraq.
The reports could not immediately be confirmed, although there has been considerable unrest among the religious communities in the holy city, 110 miles south-west of Baghdad.
The bombing in Najaf comes one week after a bomb exploded outside the house of one of Iraqi’s most important Shiite clerics, killing three guards and injuring 10 others including family members.
The gas cylinder was placed along the outside wall of the home of Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim in Najaf. It exploded just after noon prayers on July 22.
The cleric suffered scratches on his neck, according to Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, a member of Iraq’s US picked Governing Council and leader of what was the armed wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, headquartered in Iran before the war.
The Al-Hakims are one of the most influential families in the Shiite community in Iraq.
Iraqi newspapers reported two weeks ago that the cleric al-Hakim had received threats against his life. He also is one of three top Shiite leaders threatened with death by a rival Shiite cleric shortly after Saddam Hussein was toppled April 9.
A day after Saddam Hussein’s overthrow, a mob in Najaf hacked to death a Shiite cleric who had returned from exile.
Abdul Majid al-Khoei was killed when a meeting called to reconcile rival Shiite groups erupted into a melee at the Shrine of Ali, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest sites.
Shiites make up 60% of Iraq’s 24 million population.
