In a eulogy to his brother -- a revered Shiite cleric -- a member of the US-picked governing council yesterday demanded American occupation forces leave Iraq, blaming them for his brother's assassination as 400,000 faithful listened during a burial ceremony in the holy city of Najaf.
Men clad in white robes and dark uniforms brandishing Kalashnikov rifles stood guard every 5m along the roof of Najaf's gold domed Imam Ali shrine during the funeral.
Black mourning banners were draped across the mosque, which on Friday became the site of the country's bloodiest attack since the fall of Saddam Hussein, killing moderate cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim. There are varying accounts of how many other people died, ranging from more than 80 to more than 120.
"The occupation force is primarily responsible for the pure blood that was spilt in holy Al-Najaf, the blood of al-Hakim and the faithful group that was present near the mosque," Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim said in a funeral oration broadcast live on Lebanon's al-Manar television, the official channel of the militant Hezbollah.
"This force is primarily responsible for all this blood and the blood that is shed all over Iraq every day," the governing council member said.
"Iraq must not remain occupied and the occupation must leave so that we can build Iraq as God wants us to do," he said.
Unable to recover al-Hakim's body after the blast, the family buried a symbolic coffin containing his watch, his pen and wedding ring in the 1920 Revolution Square, a cemetery set aside for martyrs in the Shiite uprising against British occupation. Al-Hakim's 15 bodyguards, who died with him in the car bombing, were buried in neighboring plots.
Mourners scooped up sand from the ground in the cemetery to take home as a souvenir.
As the funeral was about to begin, another car bomb exploded outside the police headquarters in central Baghdad -- wounding an unknown number of bystanders. Huge plumes of black smoke rose above the blast scene, where debris lay scattered around the headquarters. There were no fatalities.
Acting Baghdad police chief Hassan al-Obeidi has offices in the headquarters building and is closely associated with the US-led occupation authority.
Also yesterday, a Black Hawk helicopter crashed south of Baghdad, killing one US soldier and injuring another. The accident took place at around 12:30am and was a "non-hostile" incident, said US military spokesman Specialist Anthony Reinoso.
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