Three Sunni Prayers Wounded in Baghdad Mosque Attack, Informal UN Discussions over Draft Resolution

Three Sunni Prayers Wounded in Baghdad Mosque Attack, Informal UN Discussions over Draft Resolution
Three unidentified gunmen sprayed bullets at congregants at the end of dawn prayers Friday, wounding at least three people, the cleric at the Sunni mosque in northeast Baghdad said. Residents said the attack, in a mainly Shi'ite area of Baghdad, appeared intended to foment conflict between Iraq's two Muslim communities. "The attackers want civil war between Shi'ites and Sunnis. God will reveal who they are," the Qibaa mosque's imam or prayer leader, said imam Walid al-Azari at the Quiba mosque. "They want to break the unity of Muslims." He said the attack occurred at about 4:30 a.m. when three gunmen got out of a pickup truck and opened fire with Kalashnikov rifles. About 40 worshippers were at the mosque when the attackers, thought to number three or four, pulled up in a vehicle, burst through the front gate and opened fire with assault rifles. "We were listening to a lesson when they came in and started shooting at random," said Abdullah Waleed, son of the local sheikh or community leader. "People ran to hide everywhere, but they hit three. We were unarmed, in a sacred place. What could we do?" One of the three was in a critical condition, but the other two were only lightly wounded, their friends said. **Informal UN discussions over draft resolution*** The UN Security Council is due to have its first sitting today to debate a US backed draft resolution designed to muster an international force for Iraq. But faced with potential opposition, British Ambassador to the UN Emyr Jones Parry sought to downplay the draft, saying that it was an informal text that would be discussed. French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder both oppose the draft and maintain it falls short of what they would expect of a plan for Iraq's future. At a news conference in Dresden Chirac said, "We are ready to examine the proposals but they seem quite far from what appears to us the primary objective, namely the transfer of political responsibility to an Iraqi government as soon as possible". US Secretary of State Colin Powell said he had not had time to examine France's and Germany's remarks, but said he was ready to discuss their concerns. Meanwhile US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is on the ground in Iraq dealing with the current problems faced by US forces in the country. Rumsfeld has held discussions over the continuing attacks on US forces and over the possibility of setting up a force made up of former Iraqi army officers. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Martyrs Mosque Baghdad

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  • Fajr
    04:58 AM
  • Dhuhr
    11:45 AM
  • Asr
    02:48 PM
  • Maghrib
    05:09 PM
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    06:39 PM