National News Hundreds of thousands gather in Baghdad to mourn Shiite leader

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BAGHDAD (AP) - A Shiite leader, who was assassinated in a car bombing that killed at least 85 people, was buried Sept. 2 in the holy city of Najaf.

The burial of Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, a moderate cleric and an opponent of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, came at the close of a two-day, 176-km march from Baghdad by more than 300,000 Muslim devotees carrying his symbolic coffin. The coffin did not contain his body, as according to authorities, all they could find of al-Hakim after the attack was his hand, watch, wedding band and pen.

The Iraqi police handling the investigation into the Aug. 29 bombing say they have arrested 19 men, all with links to al-Qaeda, in connection with the blast.

However, many Shiites blame the cleric's death on Hussein loyalists, as well as the U.S.-led coalition, which they say has failed to provide adequate security in the country since the dictator's fall.

Police detained two Iraqis and two Saudis shortly after the attack, and they provided information leading to the arrest of 15 other suspects. Two Kuwaitis and six Palestinians with Jordanian passports were among the suspects, and the remainder were Iraqis and Saudis.

The suspects belong to the Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam. 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 U.S.-led coalition. He is to be succeeded as head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq by his brother Abdul Aziz al-Hakim.

ハキム師の葬儀に数十万人参列

爆弾テロで死亡した、イラク・シーア派の最高指導者であるハキム師の葬儀が行なわれ、遺体は2日ナジャフに埋葬された。テロの容疑者としてアルカイダ関係者と見られる19人の男が逮捕された。

Shukan ST: Sept. 12, 2003

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