Attacks against Shiites in Iraq kill at least 41
Source: AP
A suicide attacker and twin bomb blasts today targeted Shiites marking a somber religious ritual in Iraq, killing at least 41 people and wounding more than 100, officials said.
The ritual, known as Ashoura, is observed every year over a 10-day period and has been marred previously by massive attacks by al-Qaida and other Sunni extremists who see Shiites as heretics. This year, the attacks come amid an escalating campaign of violence by insurgents seeking to thwart the Shiite-led government's efforts to maintain security.
The deadliest of today's attacks was in the town of al-Saadiyah, 90 miles northeast of Baghdad, where a suicide bomber struck a group of Shiites gathered for an Ashoura event. The explosion killed at least 32 people and wounded 75, two police officers said.
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Earlier today, two bombs exploded simultaneously near tents set up to offer food and drinks to Shiites pilgrims passing through Hafriyah, a town about 32 miles south of the Iraqi capital, another police officer said.
Read more: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2013/11/14/1114-Attacks-against-Shiites-in-Iraq-kill-at-least-41.html
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)msongs
(67,420 posts)Gary 50
(381 posts)that Islam is a religion of peace. I'd hate to see what would happen if Islam was a religion of war, murder and hate.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)1. Islam has more than a billion adherents, the vast majority of whom are in fact quite peaceful.
2. I suspect the sectarian divide reflects other, more earth-bound, divisions, such as control over resources. It becomes a convenient dividing line.
3. I also suspect the rise of Islamic radicalism is linked to a dearth of other outlets for discontent. A few decades ago, all those angry young men might have been Communist guerrillas. But if you're an angry young man in the Arab world these days, radical Islam is about all you've got.