Many Iraqis Killed in Mosque Attack
10/02/2006| IslamWeb
A car bomb has exploded outside a mosque in southwestern
Also on Friday, a dozen men wearing Iraqi police uniforms snatched a Sunni Arab cleric from his Baghdad home, while abducted Jill Caroll, the US reporter, appealed to supporters in a new tape to do whatever necessary to secure her freedom.
The car which targeted the Iskan al-Shaabi mosque was parked about 10 metres from the place of worship in the southern Dora neighbourhood when it exploded after 1pm, shattering glass in the building and causing casualties inside and outside, said police Lt Thaer Mahmoud.
At least eight people were killed and 21 wounded,
according to Dr Muhannad Jawad of
Earlier, police spokesman Lt Mohammed Khayoun said most of the victims were attending the main weekly Muslim prayer service.
Marines killed
The
Adel Khalil Dawoud, imam of the Nuaimi Sunni Muslim mosque in Baghdad's northern Shaab district, was taken from his home shortly after midnight, relatives and eyewitnesses told investigating police officers, said Lt Mohammed Khayoun.
Eyewitnesses told police that 12 men wearing Interior Ministry special forces uniforms knocked on the imam's door in central Baghdad's Karradah neighbourhood early on Friday, asked for proof of identity and drove him away in one of three four-wheel drive vehicles, said Khayoun, the police spokesman.
Interior Ministry officials had no immediate comment on whether those who detained Dawoud were actually police officers or people in disguise.
Sunni leaders cite a spate of kidnappings and killings of Sunni Arabs as examples of the discrimination they face in post-Saddam Hussein
Carroll update
The Christian Science Monitor freelance reporter was seen late on Thursday in the third video aired since her 7 January abduction by a group called the "Revenge Brigades."
She appealed in a calm, composed voice for her supporters to do whatever it takes to win her release "as quickly as possible."
The tape was broadcast by private Kuwaiti station Al Rai TV.
In the first video aired on 17 January, Aljazeera said her abductors gave the
Five Iraqi women have already been freed, but Iraqi and US officials said their releases were routine and not part of a swap for Carroll.
US officials have refused to discuss Carroll's kidnapping for fear of endangering her life. She was one of five foreigners kidnapped here last month, including two German engineers and two Kenyans.
However, some Iraqi and foreign security officials not directly involved in the case believe that in virtually all kidnappings, ransom money is the main goal and kidnappers present political or other demands to justify the act to their supporters.
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