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Deadly attacks in Iraq turn festival into bloodiest day since war bean

BAGHDAD (AP) - Suicide bombers set off simultaneous attacks on Shiite Muslim shrines crowded with pilgrims in the two Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Karbala on March 2, turning the holiest day on the Shiite calendar into the bloodiest since the fall of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Iraq Governing Council President Mohammed Bahr al-Ulloum said 271 people were killed and 393 wounded in the bombings at Baghdad's Kazimiya shrine and holy sites in Karbala. U.S. officials, however, put the combined death toll at 117, down from 143 that they reported earlier.

Authorities said there were about a dozen bombers in those cities as well as in Basra, several of whom were captured before they were able to detonate their explosives

U.S. officials and Iraqi leaders named an al-Qaeda-linked militant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as a "prime suspect" for the attacks, saying he seeks to spark a Sunni-Shiite civil war to wreck U.S. plans to hand over power to the Iraqis on June 30.

But some Shiites lashed out at U.S. forces. Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Hussein al-Sistani, blamed the Americans for not providing security.

The attacks forced the delay of a milestone in the path toward the U.S. handover - the planned March 4 signing of an interim constitution approved by the Governing Council.

The devastating explosions came on the climactic day of the 10-day Shiite mourning festival Ashoura commemorating the 7th-century martyrdom of the prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein.

The festival was also the occasion of an attack on a Shiite procession later March 2 in Quetta, Pakistan. At least 42 people - including two attackers - were killed there and over 160 were wounded.

Shukan ST: March 12, 2004

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National News Deadly attacks in Iraq turn festival into bloodiest day since war bean BAGHDAD (AP) - Suicide bombers set off simultaneous attacks on Shiite Muslim shrines crowded with pilgrims in the two Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Karbala on March 2, turning the holiest day on the Shiite calendar into the bloodiest since the fall of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Iraq Governing Council President Mohammed Bahr al-Ulloum said 271 people were killed and 393 wounded in the bombings at Baghdad's Kazimiya shrine and holy sites in Karbala. U.S. officials, however, put the combined death toll at 117, down from 143 that they reported earlier. Authorities said there were about a dozen bombers in those cities as well as in Basra, several of whom were captured before they were able to detonate their explosives U.S. officials and Iraqi leaders named an al-Qaeda-linked militant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as a "prime suspect" for the attacks, saying he seeks to spark a Sunni-Shiite civil war to wreck U.S. plans to hand over power to the Iraqis on June 30. But some Shiites lashed out at U.S. forces. Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Hussein al-Sistani, blamed the Americans for not providing security. The attacks forced the delay of a milestone in the path toward the U.S. handover - the planned March 4 signing of an interim constitution approved by the Governing Council. The devastating explosions came on the climactic day of the 10-day Shiite mourning festival Ashoura commemorating the 7th-century martyrdom of the prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein. The festival was also the occasion of an attack on a Shiite procession later March 2 in Quetta, Pakistan. At least 42 people - including two attackers - were killed there and over 160 were wounded. Shukan ST: March 12, 2004 (C) All rights reserved