.Gunmen Kill Aides to Iraqi Shiite Cleric
BAGHDAD (AP) - Two aides to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani were gunned down in southern Iraq, prompting Basra followers of Iraq's top Shiite cleric to boycott Friday sermons and call for better protection for the country's religious leaders.
The deaths brought to at least five the number of al-Sistani aides slain since early August, raising fears about the security surrounding al-Sistani as Shiite militias wage an increasingly violent struggle for power in Iraq's oil-rich south.
The attacks late Thursday drew protests from al-Sistani's followers and calls for stepped up protection of the religious hierarchy.
The reclusive spiritual leader has been the target of at least one assassination attempt since 2003. Born in Iran, al-Sistani, who is in his 70s, commands the deep respect of Iraq's majority Shiites and millions could riot, fuelling sectarian tension, if he comes to harm.
"Security officials ... should put an end to the wave of assassinations. Such killings might target prominent figures whose absence if killed might affect the political process," another al-Sistani aide, Ahmed al-Safi, said in his sermon Friday in Karbala.
In Baghdad, the U.S. military said Friday that one American soldier was killed and another was wounded in an explosion the day before near their vehicle in the volatile Diyala province northeast of the Iraqi capital. Another U.S. soldier died in a non-combat related incident in Tamim province Thursday.
Romania also lost its second soldier since the war started in March 2003 - a corporal killed in a roadside bombing near the Tallil air base in southern Iraq, the Romanian defense ministry said.
Separately, authorities in the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq called for the release of an Iranian detained by U.S. forces Thursday in Sulaimaniyah.
The U.S. military said he was smuggling in roadside bombs as a member of the elite Iranian paramilitary Quds Force, which is accused by the United States of arming and training Shiite militias in Iraq.
But the Kurdish government said Friday that the Iranian was part of an Iranian delegation of economists and businessmen, with an "official invitation." A spokesman, Fuad Hussein, said the detention was "illegitimate."
The U.S. detention of Iranians is a sensitive subject for Iraqi officials trying to balance the interests of their rival U.S. backers and Iran, powerful allies of the Shiite-led government.
Kurdish authorities also were irked by the January arrest of five Iranians during an American raid in the northern city of Irbil.
U.S. authorities have said the five included the operations chief and other members of the Quds force. Iran has insisted the five were diplomats in Iraq with permission of the government.
The arrest could further strain Washington-Tehran relations, already taxed by earlier detention of each other's citizens, as well as U.S. accusations over Iranian involvement in Iraq's violence and Iran's disputed nuclear program.
Iran has denied allegations that it is stoking the violence.
Al-Sistani's representative in the Diwaniyah province, Ahmed al-Barqaawi, was shot to death Thursday night while driving home to the city of Diwaniyah, about 130 kilometers 80 miles south of Baghdad, police officials said.
About 30 minutes later, gunmen opened fire on a car carrying Amjad al-Janabi, a representative of the cleric in the Basra area, 340 miles southeast of the capital. Al-Janabi and his driver were killed, a policeman said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.
Al-Sistani commands a network of representatives across much of Iraq to deliver Friday sermons in their respective towns and collect a religious tax to run his seminaries and charities.
Some of these representatives are senior clerics empowered by the Iranian-born al-Sistani to advise Shiites on religious questions.
Al-Sistani's followers in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, refused to attend Friday sermons in their mosques, denouncing the latest assassinations of the cleric's associates, an aide said.
Al-Sistani's office in the holy city of Najaf declined to comment on the latest slayings. Basra Gov. Mohammed al-Waili called on the government to step up measures to protect clerics.
Rival Shiite groups clashed violently in August in another Shiite holy city, Karbala, during a religious festival that left at least 52 people dead.
MyWay
Well unless he comes out and says clearly that Iraq is trying to kill him, he will be killed.
The deaths brought to at least five the number of al-Sistani aides slain since early August, raising fears about the security surrounding al-Sistani as Shiite militias wage an increasingly violent struggle for power in Iraq's oil-rich south.
The attacks late Thursday drew protests from al-Sistani's followers and calls for stepped up protection of the religious hierarchy.
The reclusive spiritual leader has been the target of at least one assassination attempt since 2003. Born in Iran, al-Sistani, who is in his 70s, commands the deep respect of Iraq's majority Shiites and millions could riot, fuelling sectarian tension, if he comes to harm.
"Security officials ... should put an end to the wave of assassinations. Such killings might target prominent figures whose absence if killed might affect the political process," another al-Sistani aide, Ahmed al-Safi, said in his sermon Friday in Karbala.
In Baghdad, the U.S. military said Friday that one American soldier was killed and another was wounded in an explosion the day before near their vehicle in the volatile Diyala province northeast of the Iraqi capital. Another U.S. soldier died in a non-combat related incident in Tamim province Thursday.
Romania also lost its second soldier since the war started in March 2003 - a corporal killed in a roadside bombing near the Tallil air base in southern Iraq, the Romanian defense ministry said.
Separately, authorities in the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq called for the release of an Iranian detained by U.S. forces Thursday in Sulaimaniyah.
The U.S. military said he was smuggling in roadside bombs as a member of the elite Iranian paramilitary Quds Force, which is accused by the United States of arming and training Shiite militias in Iraq.
But the Kurdish government said Friday that the Iranian was part of an Iranian delegation of economists and businessmen, with an "official invitation." A spokesman, Fuad Hussein, said the detention was "illegitimate."
The U.S. detention of Iranians is a sensitive subject for Iraqi officials trying to balance the interests of their rival U.S. backers and Iran, powerful allies of the Shiite-led government.
Kurdish authorities also were irked by the January arrest of five Iranians during an American raid in the northern city of Irbil.
U.S. authorities have said the five included the operations chief and other members of the Quds force. Iran has insisted the five were diplomats in Iraq with permission of the government.
The arrest could further strain Washington-Tehran relations, already taxed by earlier detention of each other's citizens, as well as U.S. accusations over Iranian involvement in Iraq's violence and Iran's disputed nuclear program.
Iran has denied allegations that it is stoking the violence.
Al-Sistani's representative in the Diwaniyah province, Ahmed al-Barqaawi, was shot to death Thursday night while driving home to the city of Diwaniyah, about 130 kilometers 80 miles south of Baghdad, police officials said.
About 30 minutes later, gunmen opened fire on a car carrying Amjad al-Janabi, a representative of the cleric in the Basra area, 340 miles southeast of the capital. Al-Janabi and his driver were killed, a policeman said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.
Al-Sistani commands a network of representatives across much of Iraq to deliver Friday sermons in their respective towns and collect a religious tax to run his seminaries and charities.
Some of these representatives are senior clerics empowered by the Iranian-born al-Sistani to advise Shiites on religious questions.
Al-Sistani's followers in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, refused to attend Friday sermons in their mosques, denouncing the latest assassinations of the cleric's associates, an aide said.
Al-Sistani's office in the holy city of Najaf declined to comment on the latest slayings. Basra Gov. Mohammed al-Waili called on the government to step up measures to protect clerics.
Rival Shiite groups clashed violently in August in another Shiite holy city, Karbala, during a religious festival that left at least 52 people dead.
MyWay
Well unless he comes out and says clearly that Iraq is trying to kill him, he will be killed.
posted by madtom at 12:39 PM
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