Beating their chests and calling for revenge, more than 300,000 Muslims began a two-day, 177km march to the holy city of Najaf yesterday to mourn a cherished Shiite leader who was assassinated in a car bombing that killed at least 85 people.
The faithful followed a flatbed truck carrying a symbolic coffin for Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, a moderate cleric and Saddam Hussein opponent. Authorities said they could only find al-Hakim's hand, watch, wedding band and pen in the wreckage.
"Our revenge will be severe on the killers," read one of the many banners carried by mourners.
PHOTO: AP
Red and white roses were laid on the coffin and a large portrait of al-Hakim was placed in front of it.
The Iraqi police handling the investigation into Friday's bombing say they have arrested 19 men -- many of them foreigners and all with admitted links to al-Qaeda -- in connection with the blast. However, many Shiites blame the cleric's death on Saddam loyalists and the US-led coalition, which they say has failed to provide adequate security in the country since the dictator's fall.
"Saddam and Bush will not humiliate us," read another banner.
The procession began at the al-Kadhimiyah Shrine, one of Baghdad's most sacred Shiite sites, and was expected to grow as it weaved its way southward. The marchers were to stop at holy sites in Karbala before arriving at the blast site, Najaf's Imam Ali Shrine, for the funeral tomorrow.
Police detained two Iraqis and two Saudis shortly after the Friday attack, and they provided information leading to the arrest of 15 other suspects, said a senior police official in Najaf, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Two Kuwaitis and six Palestinians with Jordanian passports were among the suspects, the official said. The remainder were Iraqis and Saudis, the official said, without giving a breakdown.
Initial information shows the foreigners entered Iraq from neighboring Kuwait, Syria and Jordan, the official said, adding that they belong to the Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam.
"They are all connected to al-Qaeda," the official said.
Wahhabism is the strict, fundamentalist branch of Sunni Islam from which al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden draws spiritual direction. Based in Saudi Arabia, its followers show little tolerance for non-Wahhabi Sunnis and Shiites.
Al-Hakim had only returned in May from exile in Iran. While backing the formation of an Islamic state in Iraq, he had also urged unity among rival Shiite factions and tolerance of the US-led coalition.
Police said there were similarities between the mosque bombing and two recent attacks.
The bomb at the Imam Ali Shrine -- the burial place of the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad -- was made from the same type of materials used in the Aug. 19 truck bombing at the UN headquarters in Baghdad, which killed 23 people, and the Jordanian Embassy vehicle bombing Aug. 7, which killed 19, the Iraqi official said.
US officials have not confirmed any details of the arrests, which would substantiate George W. Bush administration claims that bin Laden's followers have taken their war against the US to Iraq.
American authorities have not taken an active public role in the mosque investigation because of Iraqi sensitivity to any US presence at the Najaf shrine. The mosque is the most sacred Shiite shrine in Iraq and the third holiest in the world after Mecca and Medina.
Hospital officials said 85 people died in the shrine bombing, including al-Hakim. Earlier tolls were reduced after some deaths were found to have been reported twice.
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