Posted on 06/28/2006 3:48:39 PM PDT by neverdem
BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 28 — An Iraqi insurgent belonging to Al Qaeda led a team of seven others in the bombing of a golden-domed Shiite shrine in February that ignited waves of sectarian violence that are still convulsing Iraq, a top Iraqi security official said today.
The insurgent, Haitham al-Badri, is in hiding in Iraq and is being sought by government forces, the Iraqi national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, said.
Mr. Badri also personally killed Atwar Bahjat, an Iraqi reporter for the Al Arabiya television network, who was abducted and murdered after traveling to Samarra, the site of the Al Askariya shrine, on the day of the bombing, Mr. Rubaie said. Two of Ms. Bahjat's colleagues were also killed in that ambush.
Mr. Rubaie said the Iraqi government learned the details of the shrine bombing after the capture a few days ago of Yusri Fakher Muhammad Ali, also known as Abu Qudama, a Tunisian militant who took part in the attack. Mr. Ali, who entered Iraq in November 2003, confessed to carrying out the bombing under the guidance of Mr. Badri, Mr. Rubaie said. The assault team also consisted of four Saudis and two Iraqis, he added.
"The crime of Samarra was one of the biggest crimes meant to provoke sectarian division and civil war, but they failed to achieve that," Mr. Rubaie said at a news conference inside the fortified Green Zone.
The participation of Iraqis in the bombing, and the fact that the attack was put together by an Iraqi, could come as a shock to many in this country. The destruction of the shrine's golden dome was so horrific that many Iraqis at the time blamed the attack on foreigners, saying that no Iraqi would resort to such measures in an attempt to foment sectarian strife. Indeed...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The shrine is venerated by Shiites, especially those who believe in the prophecy of the Mahdi, or the 12th Imam. According to legend, that figure vanished from the earth where the shrine is today(and is rumored to be hiding at the bottom of some well around there) and will return at the apocalypse to cleanse the world of infidels.
Followers include "Mookie," aka Moktada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric, and the President of Iran, Ahmadinutcase.
The 'twelvers' are those Shia who regard a sequence of twelve Imams as the legitimate successors to Mohammed. At least some of them think the 12th Imam will return as the Madhi.
The other major branch of the Shia, the 'seveners', or Ismaeli, regard the last legitimate Imam as, one Ismael, who shortly after his installation as Imam was found drunk, and deposed. The seveners are lead by the Aga Khan, and were the source of the Assassins.
The Assad family of Syria are adherents of another branch of Shia: the Alawites, are a semi-Christianized branch of Shia, who take Christian names (Bashir is the Arabic equivalent of Basil), celebrate some Christian feasts, and have a quasi-eucharistic commemoration of Ali, which actually involves wine (!!?).
All these are distinct from the Sunni, who regard the Caliphs as the legitimate succesors of Mohammed, and are divided into as many sects as there are Sunni Mullahs since there are no longer (post-1920 or was it '22?) any Caliphs, the last having been deposed by Kamal Ataturk.
Thanks for the info on the Alawites and the "Seveners."
Ah, I see.
*Mister* Badri?!?
I think that s/b
"Badri"
or
"el-Badri"
or
"Subhuman mass murdering terrorist Moslem scum"
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