Iraq Watch: February 24, 2006

Clerics Seek Unity as Curfew Extended

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi Shiite Muslim clerics spoke of unity on Friday in sermons at mosques around the country as Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite himself, announced that a daytime curfew would be extended into Saturday.

Firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urged his followers to practice restraint, a call echoed by other Shiite clerics Friday. In his weekly sermon in Sadr City, a Shiite slum located in eastern Baghdad, he told onlookers "Anyone who attacks a Muslim is not a Muslim." Al-Sdar's militia, known as the Mahdi army, were dispatched around the country to protect Shiite mosques and worshippers.

In many Sunni mosques, however, the tone was much more malign. In the Jihad neighborhood of western Baghdad clerics, speaking through mosque loudspeakers, told their congregation "The government knew about plans to attack Sunni mosques. But only the occupiers are benefiting from such chaos," according to Knight Ridder.

Top Shiite political leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of the powerful Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), said that the perpetrators of Tuesday's 'Golden Mosque' attack "do not represent the Sunnis in Iraq."

Despite the extensive security measures, sporadic violence was reported around the country. In Samarra, where the bombing of the shrine took place, at least two Iraqi policemen were killed in a roadside bombing while an Iraqi soldier died in a checkpoint attack in the capital. Also, at least 27 executed bodies were found around the war-torn nation.

The ordinarily bustling capital city of Baghdad was unusually quiet due to the curfew's ban on all civilian vehicles. Major thoroughfares throughout the city, home to nearly six million, were all but deserted except for the occasional security roadblock. The curfew is in affect for volatile mixed provinces such as Baghdad, Salaheddin, Diyala, and Babil.