Several Sunni mosques in Iraq attacked
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070614/sunni_mosques_070614/20070614?hub=TopStoriesUpdated Thu. Jun. 14 2007 6:23 AM ET
Associated Press
BAGHDAD --
A handful of Sunni mosques were attacked or burned Thursday, but curfews and increased troop levels kept Iraq in relative calm a day after suspected al Qaeda bombers toppled the towering minarets of a prized Shiite shrine.
Wednesday's attack on the Askariya shrine in Samarra, which was blamed on Sunni extremists with links to al Qaeda, stoked fears of a surge in violence between Muslim sects. A bombing at the same mosque complex in February 2006 that destroyed the shrine's famed golden dome unleashed a bloodbath of reprisals.
Increased U.S. and Iraqi military patrols crisscrossed the streets of the Iraqi capital, and additional checkpoints were set up along roads leading to Sadr City, witnesses said.
Hundreds of residents marched peacefully through the streets of that teeming neighborhood, a stronghold of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. Demonstrations also took place in Kut, Diwaniyah, Najaf and Basra -- all predominantly Shiite cities in the south.
A ban on vehicular traffic was expected to remain in place in Baghdad until Saturday.
Attacks on Sunni mosques began within hours of Wednesday's bombings in Samarra.
Police in the southern city of Basra said Thursday that four people were killed and six wounded in attacks on the Kawaz, Othman, al-Abayshi and Basra Grand mosques on Wednesday, all involving rocket-propelled grenades that also damaged the buildings. Basra is Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad.
Four Sunni mosques near Baghdad also were attacked or burned within several hours of the Samarra bombings, police said.
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