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Islamic peace motives:Police: 4 arrested
in Najaf bombing, all have ties to al-Qaida
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Police: 4 arrested in Najaf bombing, all have ties to al-Qaida
at 11:06 on August 30, 2003, EST.
Iraqis protest against the killing of Iraqi Shiite cleric Ayatollah
Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim and others in Baghdad Saturday. (AP/Samir Mezban)
NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi police have arrested four men in connection
with the bombing of Iraq's most holy Shiite Muslim shrine, and all have
links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network, a senior police
official told The Associated Press on Saturday.
The official, who said the death toll in the Friday bombing had risen to
107, said the four arrested men - two Iraqis and two Saudis - were
caught shortly after the car bombing on Friday.
The blast also killed one of the most important Shiite clerics in Iraq,
Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, who had been co-operating with the
American occupation force.
On Saturday, 4,000 mourners chanted for vengeance in Najaf. In Baghdad,
about 3,000 Shiites protested at the gates of the U.S.-led Coalition
headquarters, complaining that the coalition's failure to provide
security led to al-Hakim's death.
U.S. military helicopters hovered low overhead, but the demonstrators
dispersed peacefully after an hour.
The police official, who lead the initial investigation and
interrogation of the captives, said the prisoners told of other plots to
kill political and religious leaders and to damage vital installations
such as power plants, water supplies and oil pipelines.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the bomb was
made from the same type of materials used in the Aug. 19 bombing at the
UN headquarters in Baghdad, in which at least 23 people died, and the
Jordanian Embassy attack on Aug. 7, which killed 19.
The FBI said the UN bomb was constructed from ordnance left over from
the regime of Saddam Hussein, much of it produced in the former Soviet
Union.
The police official said the men arrested after the attack claimed the
recent bombings were designed to keep Iraq in a state of chaos so that
police and American forces are unable to focus attention on the
country's porous borders, across which suspected foreign fighters are
said to be infiltrating.
The four men arrived in Najaf three days before the bombing and were
staying with a friend who did not know their intentions, the official said.
American officials believe militants from Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran
are infiltrating Iraq to attack Western interests. U.S. President George
W. Bush said earlier this month that more foreign "al-Qaida-type
fighters" have moved in.
Last week, a shadowy group that takes its name from the alias of
Mohammed Atef, Osama bin Laden's top deputy, claimed responsibility for
the UN bombing.
The Abu Hafs el-Masri Brigades - one of three groups to claim
responsibility for the attack - made its claim on a Web site, but U.S.
officials said they could not authenticate it and it remained unclear if
the group exists or has any link to al-Qaida. Atef himself was killed in
a U.S. air strike in Afghanistan in November 2001.
In Baghdad, 150 UN employees held a sombre memorial service on Saturday
to remember their colleagues killed in the Aug. 19 bombing of the UN office.
Meanwhile Saturday, thousands of angry mourners called for vengeance as
they gathered outside the Imam Ali shrine, site of the bombing in Najaf.
"Our leader al-Hakim is gone. We want the blood of the killers of
al-Hakim," a crowd of 4,000 men chanted while beating their chests.
The bombing was certain to complicate American efforts to pacify an
increasingly violent Iraq. A moderate cleric, al-Hakim was seen as a
stabilizing force in Iraq. He repeatedly asked the country's Shiite
majority to be patient with the United States.
Al-Hakim was the spiritual leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic
Revolution in Iraq. In Baghdad Saturday, a member of the group's
politburo, Ali al-Ghadban, said the bombing would not deter it from
co-operating with the Americans.
"We will continue in our dealing with the Americans, but the Americans
should now be more aware of the fact that the Iraqis only are capable of
preserving the security in the country," al-Ghadban said.
"They (the Americans) are responsible for the incident because of their
failure to provide security in Iraq." He said the group would press the
Americans for more powers for Iraqis.
L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. occupation's co-ordinator for Iraq, was out of
the country on vacation and had no plans to return early because of the
bombing.
While many here blamed the attack on the Sunni Muslim followers of
Saddam Hussein, there has been fighting between Shiites as well.
Najaf, 180 kilometres southwest of Baghdad, is the headquarters of
Iraq's most powerful Shiite rivals, including followers of Grand
Ayatollah Muhammad Ishaq al-Fayyad, Ayatollah Ali Hussein al-Sistani and
Moqtada al-Sadr. Shiites make up about 60 per cent of Iraq's population.
Also Saturday, a U.S. soldier was in critical condition after his Humvee
plunged into a canal during preparations for a raid on the outskirts of
al-Abbarah, about 80 kilometres north of Baghdad, the military said.
During the raid, dozens of soldiers supported by tanks and helicopters
stormed seven houses and detained three men, including two suspected
officials from Saddam's regime, said Lt.-Col. Mark Young, commander of
3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.
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