An explosion on Wednesday in the Iraqi town of Samarra caused the golden dome of the Askari Mosque, considered one of the four most holy sites of Shiite muslims in Iraq, to collapse. Also known as the Golden Mosque, it is extremely important to Shiites across the globe and is regularly visited by pilgrims. Tradition says the shrine is near the site where the last of the 12 Shiite imams, Mohammed al-Mahdi, disappeared.
Samarra, which lies north of the capital, has been the scene of numerous deadly attacks against the country's Shiite community in the past.
Iraqi officials reported that the collapse ocurred after gunmen entered the mosque and set off explosives within it, according to Reuters.
One spokesman for the US military said that the attack was "catastrophic". There were no worshippers inside the mosque at the time of the explosion.
The incident sparked reprisal attacks against Sunni sites in several other Iraqi cities, with at least 17 Sunni mosques torched and targeted by small-arms fire, rocket propelled grenades.
One Sunni mosque was reportedly completely destroyed, according to Reuters. In the Bab Al Sham area, Shiite gunmen shot and killed a Sunni cleric of the Al Rashidi mosque, while followers of Moqtada Al Sadr attacked the houses of Sunnis in the town of Diwaniya, south of Baghdad.
One Sadr follower was killed in the clashes that ensued.
Iraqi PM annouces three days of mourning, Al Sistani calls for full week
Iraqi Prime Minster Ibrahim Jaafari called for a three-day mourning period in light of the tragedy, which he called an attack on all Muslims, saying, "I hope our heroic people will take more care on this occasion to bolster Islamic unity and protect Islamic brotherhood and Iraqi national brotherhood.”
Thousands of Shiites demonstrated following the attack, while Iraq’s top Shiite religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani called for a full week of national mourning, according to the AFP.
National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie blamed extremists represented by the al-Qaeda network and Sunni group Ansar al-Sunnah for the blast, which he told the Al Arabiya television aimed "to pull Iraq toward civil war."
Meanwhile, two Iraqi soldiers were killed in the town of Kirkuk when their patrol was ambushed by gunmen, while two police officers were killed by gunmen in a separate attack in the town of Baquba.
Outside Baquba in the town of Al Ahmer, four bodyguards of the head of the Criminal Court of Diyala province were killed during an attempted assassination on the court head's life.
Additionally, three Iraqi contractors who were employed by the US Army were kidnapped in Falluja by gunmen.
Also in Wednesday, two Iraqi children and one woman were killed and four others wounded when a roadside bomb exploded outside their elementary school.
The attack, according to Iraqi police forces, occurred in the morning hours in the town of Al-Kut, southeast of Baghdad, said the AP.
© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
