Iraq mosques bombed

[cyberpj]

July 7, 2006 - 5:43 PM
Iraq mosques bombed
By Ahmed Rasheed and Ross Colvin

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Attacks on mosques after Friday prayers killed 11 people in Iraq and 40 were killed or wounded in a Baghdad raid on Shi'ite fighters that the U.S. military said netted a top militant wanted for kidnap and murder.

In a separate raid, Iraqi and U.S. forces arrested another commander of the Mehdi Army Shi'ite militia south of Baghdad; a man the U.S. military said was responsible for smuggling weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, and spying for Iran.

It was not clear if the two sweeps were part of a crackdown, but Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has vowed to disband militias, some of which, like the Mehdi army, are tied to political parties in his government coalition.

The sectarian attacks, three on Sunni mosques and a car bomb that killed at least six after Shi'ite prayers, were new blows to Maliki's attempts to end bloodshed between Shi'ites and Sunnis that has pitched Iraq towards all-out civil war.


http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/international/ticker/detail/Iraq_mosques_bombed.html?siteSect=143&sid=6876769&cKey=1152289408000

[SpiralHawk]

1. 'tis an ugly crusade

as they all are, all the way around.

[Roland99]

2. Were the bombings before or after the raid on the Mahdi Army?