Hans Rustad En av de mest innflytelsesrike shia-lederne i Irak, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, la ikke skjul på at det var Abu Musab al-Zarqawi som sto bak onsdagens bombing av Askariya-moskeen.
Al-Hakim blamed Saddam Hussein loyalists and followers of al-Qaida in Iraq boss Abu Musab al-Zarqawi for the mosque bombing.
«We all have to unite in order to eliminate them,» he said. «This is what al-Zarqawi is working for, that is, to ignite a sectarian strife in the country,» he added. «We call for self-restraint.» Col. Jeffrey Snow, a U.S. Army brigade commander in Baghdad, said the pleas by Iraqi political and religious leaders were helping curb the escalation of sectarian violence. (ap)
