Source: Yahoo!/AP

Via AP:

SAMARRA, Iraq - Insurgents detonated bombs inside one of
Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrines Wednesday, destroying its golden dome and triggering more than 60 reprisal attacks on Sunni mosques. The president warned that extremists were pushing the country toward civil war, as many Shiites lashed out at the United States as partly to blame.

As the gold dome of the 1,200-year-old Askariya shrine lay in ruins, leaders on both sides called for calm: But the string of back-and-forth attacks seemed to push the country closer to all-out civil war than at any point in the three years since the U.S.-led overthrow of
Saddam Hussein.

“We are facing a major conspiracy that is targeting Iraq’s unity,” said President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd. “We should all stand hand in hand to prevent the danger of a civil war.”

Bill Roggio’s analysis:

The attempt to drag Iraqi’s Shiites and Sunnis into a bloody civil war intensifies. The dome of the Shiite Al Askari Mosque in Samarra, or Golden Mosque, has been destroyed by a well planned and well executed commando-style raid of insurgents dressed as Iraqi police. According to CNN, “A group of men dressed like Iraqi police commandos set off explosives.” It appears suspects are now in custody, “Ten people — all dressed as Iraqi police commandos.”

The likely culprit is al-Qaeda in Iraq, or groups underneath the newly created Mujahedeen Shura Council. Zarqawi has desired a sectarian war between Shiites and Sunnis since his entry into the conflict, as he clearly stated in his letter to Osama bin Laden. al-Qaeda in Iraq has gone to through great pains of late to deny this, and will very likely not take credit in such an overt attack on the Shiite faithful. Silence and uncertainly will play into their hand, and feed conspiracy theories on who committed such an act. But the nature of the target and the sophistication of such an attack undeniably points to al-Qaeda…

Omar at Iraq the Model reports from the scene in Baghdad:

Right now there’s heavy deployment for the police and other security forces with more frequent checkpoints that are stop-searching cars more often than they usually do. Sporadic gunfire is heard in different spots in Baghdad but no one knows for sure if the firing meant clashes or mere angry shooting in the air.

From where I’m sitting now I can hear both Sunni and Shia mosques are condemning the attack through their loudspeakers.

I believe there are foreign terror groups behind this attack and I don’t think local insurgent would do such a thing, simply because this particular shrine had been in Sunni territory for a thousand years and the residents of Samarra had always benefited from the movement of religious tourism and pilgrimage.

Things look scary here in Baghdad and I hope there won’t be more updates to report as I can’t see a positive thing coming out of this…

President Bush’s statement:

“The terrorists in Iraq have again proven that they are enemies of all faiths and of all humanity,” Bush said in a statement after the dawn attack that devastated the Golden Mosque in Samarra, one of Shi’ite Islam’s holiest shrines.

Bush called the bombing a “cowardly act” and a “senseless crime,” and also promised U.S. help to track down those responsible for the bombing and to repair the shrine. Three Sunni clerics were among six people killed at 27 Sunni mosques in Baghdad hit in revenge attacks.

“I ask all Iraqis to exercise restraint in the wake of this tragedy, and to pursue justice in accordance with the laws and constitution of Iraq. Violence will only contribute to what the terrorists sought to achieve by this act,” Bush said.

More here.

Reader Frank G. wonders: “Where are the violent protests over the bombing of the famous mosque in Samarra? Surely that is more important than cartoons.”

Reader James G. responds:

I am a new reader of your blog and find your insights interesting. In response to reader Frank G.’s comment about the response to the bombings of the Mosque in Samara, I would like to point out that 60 attacks have already occured on Sunni Mosque’s within one day of the attack. I study Arabic and Middle Eastern Politics here at Middlebury, and I think that the response we will see to this will be far-reaching and long-lived. However the response will most likely not be documented as well because there were no Western targets in the attack and our media will not pick up on it. I guarantee though that the worldwide Muslim community will not be happy about this; for our sake, let’s hope the blame does not fall on U.S. troops.

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