Kidnap-linked raid on Iraq mosque sparks angry protests

[MADem]

http://au.news.yahoo.com/060110/19/xj1z.html

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Sunni Arab Muslims protested a raid by US forces on a Baghdad mosque reportedly linked to the kidnapping of a US reporter.

About 700 people rallied in the gardens of the Umm al-Qura mosque in the west of the capital to denounce the raid carried out Saturday night by US and Iraqi forces.

"This raid was conducted as a direct result of a tip by an Iraqi civilian that activities related to the kidnapping were being carried out inside the mosque," said Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Johnson, speaking of the abduction Saturday of Christian Science Monitor reporter Jill Carroll.

...The Sunni Committee of Muslim Scholars, which is based at the mosque, confirmed that one of its members, Yunis Aikali, and five mosque guards were arrested in the raid....the committee also accused US soldiers of desecrating the mosque and carrying away files containing the names of members.
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