http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessionid=ICIADZKBFO5B1QFIQMGCM54AVCBQUJVC?xml=/news/2004/12/20/uiraq.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/12/20/ixportaltop.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=110830 50 arrests over holy city bombing (Filed: 20/12/2004) Fifty people have been arrested by the Iraqi authorities in connection with an explosion in the Shiite holy city of Najaf that killed at least 54 people and wounded 142. Bombed out cars in Najaf The blast site in Najaf Car bombs tore through a Najaf funeral procession on Sunday and also killed 13 and injured at least 33 in a main bus station in the nearby Shiite city of Karbala. The Najaf car bomb detonated in central Maidan Square where a large crowd of people had gathered for the funeral procession of a tribal sheik and about 100 yards from where governor Adnan al-Zurufi and Ghalib al-Jazaari, the police chief, were standing. They were unhurt. Mr al-Zurufi said: "A car bomb exploded near us. I saw about 10 people killed." He said the authorities in Najaf have banned cars from entering the downtown area that houses the Imam Ali shrine to prevent future car bombings. The Karbala blast destroyed about 10 passenger minibuses and set fire to five cars outside the crowded Bab Baghdad bus station. It was Karbala's second bombing in a week. On Wednesday, a bomb exploded at the city's Imam Hussein Shrine, killing eight people and wounding 40 in an apparent attempt to kill a top aide to Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The Grand Ayatollah has declared that voting in the elections is a religious duty for all Shiites. Asked if the latest attack on Najaf had targeted the Grand Ayatollah, who lives several hundred yards from the blast site, Mr al-Zurufi said: "We have had information for a long time that his eminence Ayatollah al-Sistani is a possible target but we are taking all measures to protect him." The deadliest attacks in Iraq since July were a bloody reminder that the Shiite heartland in the south is vulnerable to the mainly Sunni insurgents aiming to wreck the country's key elections scheduled for Jan 30. Meanwhile, the head of the national electoral commission has appealed to the security forces to safeguard election officials, after three of them were shot dead on Sunday by dozens of guerrillas operating openly in the heart of Baghdad. The ambush was the latest attack to target Iraqi officials working to organise the vote. Abdul Hussein Al-Hindawi said: "We send an appeal to the Iraqi government and all the people to protect our employees. "We have no real protection because we work everywhere in the country and have more than six thousand employees." Also on Monday, a roadside bomb planted near Baghdad's airport destroyed a US Army Humvee, the military said. One soldier was wounded. And US troops detained 19 suspected insurgents today during a series of raids in the village of Siwash near Tikrit. The soldiers confiscated AK-47 assault rifles and a machine gun during the raid. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
