Iraq steps closer to civil war

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The bombing of a major Shiite Muslim shrine in northern Iraq on Wednesday has stoked fears that a full-scale civil war may erupt here and sharpened long-standing animosities between Shiite and Sunni Muslims across the region.

Protests raged in Shiite Muslim neighborhoods across much of Iraq and mobs attacked Sunni mosques Wednesday after bombs destroyed the golden dome of the Askariya shrine, one of Shiite Islam’s most important sites, in the troubled Sunni town of Samarra.

The bombing pushed Iraq toward open civil war between its major religious sects, a scenario that could mire the U.S. military in a fight vastly more complicated than its current counterinsurgency campaign. The strife also threatened to undo efforts to form a government of national unity that includes representatives from major ethnic and religious groups.

“The situation has gravely deteriorated,” Ashraf Qazi, the United Nations’ special representative to Iraq, said in an interview after the explosion set by unknown persons. “It is precisely what can very dangerously inflame the sectarian situation.”

An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said the Samarra shrine was hit by two bombs apparently set by a man in a military uniform and three others dressed in black who walked into the building Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. Most suspected that Sunni militants were behind the attack.

Iraq’s interior minister, Bayan Jabr, said in a TV interview that his forces had arrested 10 people in connection with the bombings, three of whom were members of a Sunni political organization.

After word of the dome’s demolition spread, more than two dozen Sunni mosques across the country were attacked. Iraqi police officials said they expected that number to rise to at least 50 by the time final reports came in Wednesday evening. Sunni officials said they documented more than 90 incidents, but those figures couldn’t be verified.

Mobs stormed and set afire some mosques, while gunmen opened fire on others with AK-47s or rocket-propelled grenades.

Officials in Baghdad, accustomed to daily chaos, were alarmed at the rapid spread of violence.

“This is designed to bring about a civil war,” said Barham Saleh, a top Kurdish leader.

President Bush issued a statement in Washington calling for restraint.

“The terrorists in Iraq have again proven that they are enemies of all faiths and of all humanity,” Bush said. “I ask all Iraqis to exercise restraint in the wake of this tragedy and to pursue justice in accordance with the laws and constitution of Iraq.”

The bombing dealt American officials in Baghdad a strong blow in attempts to create a broad-based government. For weeks, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and other embassy officials have been pressuring Iraq’s Shiite majority to grant political concessions, such as the removal of an unpopular interior minister, in order to appease Sunni Arabs who have fueled the insurgency.

But the Wednesday morning attack bolsters hard-liners within the Shiite camp who consider giving up important posts and softening policies akin to rewarding terrorism. Indeed, after the bombing, Abdelaziz Hakim, leader of an influential Shiite political party, said Khalilzad shared part of the blame for the bombing by giving aid and comfort to insurgents.

“His statement gave the green light to the terrorist groups and therefore we blame him for part of what happened,” Hakim said at a televised press conference.

The attack also drew Iran into the picture, despite recent American attempts to get the neighboring government to stay out of Iraq’s affairs.

Iran, with a 90 percent Shiite majority, views itself as the worldwide guardian of its majority faith’s affairs, and the bombing drew immediate responses from the country’s political and religious leaders.

In Qom, the Shiite seminary city in Iran, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, a high-ranking cleric, cast the attack as an attempt to deprive Iraq’s majority sect of its recent success in national parliamentary elections.

“The occupiers and enemies of Iraq after their failure in the elections there have committed this grave crime in order to create civil war,” he said, according to Iranian state radio.

Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, called for peaceful demonstrations and counseled Shiites not to attack Sunni mosques, but it was unclear whether the call would be heeded.

In Najaf, al-Sistani’s home, thousands of protesters lined the streets, their voices booming: “Just order us, Sistani, and we will turn the world dark.”

Conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims has boiled for months, with Iraq’s minority Sunni population accusing leaders of the Shiite majority of operating death squads.

Most Shiites have grown increasingly angry with Sunnis, who make up the backbone of the Iraq insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians.

With those tensions inflamed Wednesday, hopes of forming a coalition government that includes competing sects – seen as a key step before a major drawdown of U.S. troops can occur – were dimmed as Iraqi leaders tried instead to restore calm.