Suicide attacks in holy cities, Shia leaders appeal for elections
Karbala (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Iraqi Shia Muslim leaders have warned against revenge attacks following two bombings in Najaf and Karbala. "The Shias are committed not to respond with violence, which will only lead to violence. We are determined on elections," one of Najaf's leading Shia clerics, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Said al-Hakim, said.
Twin suicide attacks rocked Iraq's two holiest Shi'ite cities yesterday, killing at least 60 people and wounding more than 120 in the country's bloodiest day since July.
The bombings came just over an hour apart - first a suicide blast that ripped through minibuses at the main bus station's entrance in Karbala city, then a car bomb in a central square of Najaf, crowded with people watching a funeral procession attended by the city police chief and provincial governor.
Yesterday will also be remembered as the day guerillas made good their promise to sabotage the run-up to next month's election with a brazen attack on poll workers in central Baghdad. About 30 gunmen hurling hand grenades and firing machine guns ambushed a car carrying five employees of the non-governmental Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq as they drove to work. Three men were dragged from the car and shot dead, while two escaped unhurt. The gunmen swarmed over Baghdad's central Haifa Street, a Sunni Muslim stronghold and the scene of repeated clashes.
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