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Killing of leading Iraqi Shiite
sparks worldwide outrage
PARIS (AFP) - Governments around the world condemned the devastating car bombing in the Iraqi city of Najaf that killed Iraq (news - web sites)'s leading Shiite politician and 81 other people, while Iran charged the US-led occupation forces were ultimately responsible.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) called on all groups in Iraq to refrain from further acts of violence following the attack, which came a little over a week after another deadly bombing wrecked the UN headquarters in Baghdad.
"In the difficult days ahead, the secretary general urges all political and religious groups in Iraq to exercise maximum restraint and to refrain from further acts of violence and revenge."
Annan reaffirmed "his belief that only a credible, inclusive and transparent political process can lead to peace and stability in Iraq."
The car bomb killed at least 82 people, including Iraq's leading Shiite politician, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, and wounded more than 200 outside one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines in the central Iraqi city.
Hakim, the head of the Iran-backed Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI), was killed moments after he delivered his weekly sermon at the Tomb of Ali in the holy city, 180 kilometres (110 miles) south of Baghdad, party officials said in both Baghdad and Tehran.
In a statement released late Friday, US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) denounced the car bombing that killed Iraq's leading Shiite politician and said US forces would help hunt those responsible.
"I strongly condemn the bombing today outside the Imam Ali mosque," he said hours after the attack, which killed at least 82 people, including Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, and left some 200 injured.
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan earlier said the United States was still "resolved to defeat terrorism and to continue to work to bring a better life to the Iraqi people," as Bush vacationed at his Crawford, Texas ranch.
In Moscow, Russia's foreign ministry described the bombing as a "major terrorist act aimed at breaking the process of normalising the situation in Iraq, which is in a position of chronic instability."
Without referring specifically to the Najaf bombing, Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) said greater United Nations (news - web sites) involvement was needed in Iraq to end the escalating violence there.
"The most urgent thing is to end this escalation and the best way is to involve the United Nations more," he told a news conference in the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, where he was meeting Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer condemned what he called the "odious crime", while French foreign ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous said the government condemned the bombing "in the strongest possible terms."
Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio said the attack "shows once again the necessity for the international community to fight terrorism."
Turkey, which is mulling a US request to send troops to Iraq to serve in an international security force, also denounced what it called "this act of terrorism," and pledged to continue to "support the Iraqi nation during this historic transition phase".
But in Iran, which declared three days of mourning for the slain cleric, a government statement placed ultimate responsibility for the attack on the "occupation forces".
"The Islamic Republic condemns this blind action and places direct responsibility on the occupation forces that, under international law, are responsible for the maintenance of security in Iraq," said a government statement carried by the student news agency ISNA.
Hakim, head of the Iran-backed Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI), spent more than 20 years in exile in Iran before making a triumphant return to his homeland in May. Firebrand Iraqi Shiite imam Moqtada Sadr called for three days of work strikes to protest the killing and also lashed out at the Americans, labelling them the greatest enemy in post-war Iraq. "The Americans are not defending the people and they are not letting us bring security. That's why they are our first enemy," said Sadr, whose followers have been setting up a private militia over the past month and a half. The leader of Lebanon's Shiite party Hezbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, said the killing will strengthen the Iraqis' determination to "save the occupied country". "The blood shed by our dear martyr and by all the martyrs who died near the mausoleum of Imam Ali will trigger revolt and anger, and will awaken consciences to stand up against the imminent dangers," he said. Hezbollah's Al-Manar television interrupted its programs to broadcast verses from the Koran in a sign of mourning for the death of Hakim. Members of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council blamed the bombing on an alliance of foreign terrorists and veterans of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime. "We believe this attack was carried out by elements of the dead regime and the terrorists who sneaked inside the country. The foreign terrorists are with the ex-regime members who plotted this attack and the blast on the United Nations building," said Yonnadam Yussef Kanna, an Assyrian Christian member of the council. He was alluding to the suicide truck bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad on August 19 that killed 22 people and wounded around 100. Jordanian Information Minister Nabil Sharif said the bombing aims to curtail efforts to stabilise Iraq. He recalled the recent attacks on the Jordanian embassy and the UN headquarters in Baghdad and said "these criminal acts will not achieve their aim; the international community will not turn its back on Iraq."
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