XPost: soc.culture.usa, soc.culture.swiss, soc.culture.german   
   From: theindigobox@onthetree.com   
      
   George Firestone wrote:   
   > At Least 25 Killed in Iraq Mosque Blast   
   >   
   > Published: 10/5/05   
   >   
   >   
   > HILLAH, Iraq (AP) - A bomb exploded at the entrance of a Shiite Muslim   
   > mosque south of Baghdad as hundreds of worshippers gathered for prayers on   
   > the first day of Ramadan and for the funeral of a man killed in an earlier   
   > bombing. At least 25 people were killed and 87 wounded.   
   >   
   > The explosion hit the Husseiniyat Ibn al-Nama mosque, ripping through   
   > strings of lightbulbs and green and red flags hung around the entrance to   
   > celebrate the start of the holy month. The mosque's facade was ravaged,   
   > shops nearby were detroyed and several cars were damaged.   
   >   
   > Hundreds of men had gathered at the mosque, located in the center of Hillah,   
   > for prayers before returning home to eat the meal that ends the day's   
   > sunrise to sunset fast, when the blast went off at 6 p.m.   
   >   
   > Others were there for the funeral service of a restaurant owner who was   
   > killed by a bomb that ripped through his restaurant Monday.   
   >   
   > It was the second major bomb attack in a week in Hillah, one of the most   
   > insurgent-hit towns in southern Iraq, the heartland of the Shiite majority.   
   > Al-Qaida in Iraq, one of the country's deadliest militant groups, has called   
   > for stepped up attacks during Ramadan and has declared an all-out war on   
   > Iraq's Shiites.   
   >   
   > The blast also was the latest in a string of attacks by Sunni-led insurgents   
   > that have targeted Shiite Muslims in the lead-up to an Oct. 15 referendum on   
   > Iraq's new constitution. Insurgents have vowed to wreck the vote.   
   >   
   > The explosion, which police believed was caused by a planted explosive,   
   > detonated on the sidewalk next to the mosque's entrance. At least 25 people   
   > were killed and at least 87 wounded, said Dr. Adnan al-Nashtah of the city's   
   > health department.   
   >   
   > "While I was praying, I heard a huge blast and realized parts of the mosque   
   > were crumbling over my head," said one survivor, Asaad Jassem, 35. "Some   
   > parts of the mosque's ceiling fell onto worshippers, I saw people on the   
   > ground bleeding."   
   >   
   > Haj Mohammed Abdullah, a 45-year-old shopkeeper, had closed his store to   
   > come pray.   
   >   
   > "We heard an explosion and then I fainted. I woke up when policemen splashed   
   > water over my face, and I saw all the damage, the martyrs and the wounded,"   
   > he said. "Wow could they do that?" he cried, referring to the attackers.   
   >   
   > Wednesday was the first day of Ramadan for Iraq's Shiite majority. Sunnis   
   > began marking the month a day earlier.   
   >   
   > The attack came five days after a car bomb exploded in a crowded market,   
   > killing 10 people, including three women and two children in Hillah, about   
   > 60 miles south of Baghdad. A day earlier, a string of car bombs hit in   
   > Balad, a Shiite town north of Baghdad, killing around 100 people.   
   >   
   > On Feb. 28, a suicide car bomber hit Shiite police and national guard   
   > recruits in Hillah, killing 125 people - the deadliest single bombing of the   
   > insurgency.   
   >   
   > Thousands of U.S. troops are waging two major offensives to try to put down   
   > al-Qaida in its strongholds in the mostly Sunni northwest of Iraq.   
   >   
   > Moderate Sunni Arab leaders are campaigning against the constitution, trying   
   > to defeat it at the polls because they say it will fragment Iraq into Shiite   
   > and Kurdish mini-states in the south and north, leaving Sunnis in a weakened   
   > central zone.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   Could have been also the work of the Americans, Britons or Israelis.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)