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2006 al-Askari mosque bombing

The 2006 al-Askari Shrine bombing occurred on 22 February 2006 at approximately 6:44 a.m. local Iraqi time, and targeted the al-Askari Shrine in the city of Samarra, Iraq. The attack on the mosque, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, has not been claimed by any group; the then President of the United States, George W. Bush, claimed that the bombing was an al-Qaeda plot. Although the mosque was severely damaged from the blast, there were no casualties.

This article is about the 2006 bombing. For the 2007 bombing, see 2007 al-Askari mosque bombing.

2006 al-Askari Shrine bombing

22 February 2006 (2006-02-22)
6:44 a.m. (UTC+03:00)

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The attack was followed by retaliatory violence, with over a hundred dead bodies being found the next day[1] and well over 1,000 deaths in the days following the bombing; some counts place the death toll at over 1,000 on the first day alone.[2] Already-prevalent communal violence between Iraqi Sunnis and Shia armed groups eventually escalated into a full-scale civil war.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed the United States and Israel for the attack. He claimed that "these heinous acts are committed by a group of Zionists and occupiers that have failed." He warned, amid a crowd of protesters, that the United States would "not be saved from the wrath and power of the justice-seeking nations" by resorting to bombings like the one that occurred at Al Askari Mosque.[18]

Iranian President

According to Alertnet, leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, speaking from the Lebanese capital, Beirut, echoed the opinions of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and accused the United States of attacking the shrine to cause tension between the Sunnis and Shi'ites in the Middle East.[19]

Hezbollah

In , shops were closed, while residents gathered at the city's 1920 Revolution Square for demonstrations. In Al Diwaniyah, all mosques, shops and markets were closed.[21]

Najaf

Three Sunni Muslim clerics were shot dead by Shi'a militiamen.

[22]

A civilian, Hameed Rasheed, was shot dead by random shooting in Baghdad

Attacks on Sunni mosques especially in eastern Baghdad started right away after the news of the bombing spread on the afternoon. Groups of armed men in civil vehicles seen in the streets.

Political reactions[edit]

Iraq[edit]

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari has urged Iraqis to stay unified and peaceful, saying the attack was an effort to incite violence.[32] He has also called for three days of national mourning.[33] However, talks between him and a prominent Sunni Muslim group are put on hold as the Sunni Iraqi Accord Front quits discussions on forming a new government due to the recent violence.[34] At the same time, a government organization called the Sunni Endowments that maintains Sunni mosques and shrines condemned the attack. On Feb 25, al-Jaafari blamed[35] terrorists for the crisis: "The Iraqi people have one enemy; it is terrorism and only terrorism. ... There are no Sunnis against Shiites or Shiites against Sunnis."


Despite the Sunni boycott, President Jalal Talabani pressed ahead with a meeting[36] that he had called to avert a descent toward a civil war. After discussions with Shiites, Kurds and leaders of a smaller Sunni group, he warned about the danger of all-out war.


The government is extending a curfew[37] it imposed in parts of the country on Friday to calm tensions sparked by an attack on a Shia shrine.


Iraqi defence minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi warned[29] about the danger of a long civil war. Also, he said that Iraq would not hesitate to dispatch tanks to the streets to end violence and impose security. The minister also denied any involvement by what he called Interior Ministry commandos in the attack that targeted Harith Sulayman al-Dari, leader of the Association of Muslim Scholars.


Sunni and Shiite clerics in Iraq have agreed to prohibit killings[38] and to ban attacks on each other's mosques in an effort to ease sectarian violence.

International[edit]

U.S. President George W. Bush warned about the threat of civil war[39] and expressed support for the Iraqi government. On February 25, Bush called[35] seven Iraqi political leaders in an extraordinary round of telephone diplomacy aimed at getting talks restarted about forming a permanent government. On February 28, Bush decried the latest surge in sectarian violence[40] and said that for Iraqis "the choice is chaos or unity". In congressional testimony, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said a civil war in Iraq could lead to a broader conflict in the Middle East, pitting the region's Sunni and Shiite powers against one another.


UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called the bombing a "criminal and sacrilegious act", urging Iraqis to show restraint and avoid retaliation.


Zalmay Khalilzad, Washington's ambassador to Iraq, and the top US commander in the country, Gen. George Casey, issued a joint statement saying the US would contribute to the shrine's reconstruction.[41]

Religious reactions[edit]

Iraq[edit]

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani sent instructions to his followers forbidding attacks on Sunni mosques, especially the major ones in Baghdad, and calling for seven days of mourning.[42] He hinted that religious militias could be given a bigger security role if the government was incapable of protecting holy shrines. On February 25[43] Sistani called for Iraq's powerful tribes to be deployed to protect the country's holy places after three attacks on Shia shrines in four days: "Ayatollah Sistani, who received a tribal delegation from Kufa, asked that the Iraqi tribes reclaim their role of protecting the shrines," said an official in Sistani's office in the Shia clerical center of Najaf. ... After the crimes against the places of worship, including the blowing up of the mausoleum in Samarra and the attacks against the tombs of Salman the Persian and Imam Ali bin Mussa al-Rida, the tribes must take a stand and claim a role in the protection of these sites."


Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr condemned the attack and called for calm.[44] Having called to stop mutual attacks, Sadr ordered members of his militia[45] to protect Sunni mosques in majority Shia areas in southern Iraq. Sadr called for Iraqi unity[45] and warned against "a plan by the occupation to spark a sectarian war". He called on Sunni groups such as the Association of Muslim Scholars to form a joint panel and ordered his militia to defend Shiite holy sites across Iraq.


On February 25[43] Sunni and Shiite clerics agreed to prohibit killing members of the two sects and banning attacks on each other's mosques in an effort to ease tension between Iraq's Muslim communities following sectarian violence after the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine. The agreement was made during a meeting between representatives of Sadr and Shiite cleric Jawad al-Khalisi and members of the influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars at the Abu Hanifa Mosque, a Sunni place of worship.


According to Juan Cole,[46] three Iraqi clerics all employed their influence and authority among the Shiite rank and file to make the Samarra bombing work for them politically. Sistani expanded his militia and stayed at the forefront of the movement by encouraging peaceful rallies. Abdul Aziz al-Hakim used the explosion in Samarra to bolster his own authority. He remonstrated with the American ambassador, saying it was not reasonable to expect the religious Shiites, who won the largest bloc of seats in parliament, to give up their claim on the ministry of interior, and that, indeed, Khalilzad had helped provoke the troubles with his assertions to that effect earlier. Muqtada al-Sadr used the incident to push for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, something he has wanted since the fall of Saddam.

Iran[edit]

Grand Ayatollah and Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei, urged Shi'ites not to take revenge[19] on Sunni Muslims for the attack on the Samarra shrine and deflected blame to the United States and Israel.

India[edit]

Syed Ali Nasir Saeed Abaqati a leading Shia cleric from Lucknow, India held al-Qaeda responsible for destruction of the Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra, Iraq.[47]

In pictures: Iraq shrine bombing