Iraq: Thousands pack streets to mourn dead

[Aidoneus]

Iraq: Thousands pack streets to mourn dead
Wednesday 03 March 2004

Huge crowds have gathered to mourn and bury more than 100 people killed in Tuesday's wave of bombings in Karbala and Baghdad.

In Karbala, as the coffin of one local Shia cleric passed, draped in a black flag with verses from the Quran, bystanders on Wednesday reached out to touch it and then held their fingers to their lips whispering "al-Husain", the name of Prophet Muhammad's grandson.

At least five bombs tore through Karbala on Tuesday morning,
just as a major Shia religious festival was concluding, killing at least 112 people and wounding 235, according to a senior local cleric.

--snip--

But al-Qaida denied the accusations. A letter purportedly from the network denied any role in the explosions and blamed the US.

"We have nothing to do with these acts," said the statement signed Abu Hafs Brigades/al-Qaida.

"We strike the American crusaders and their allies. We strike the Iraqi police that work for America, which uses them like a stick to beat the Mujahidin (Islamic fighters) in Iraq."

The letter was signed by the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades and was sent to the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper.

--snip--

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/75A4BA8D-691A-45F4-BE9A-BE1E858B85DC.htm

:shrug: