On
August 29, 2003, a car bomb explosion outside the main Imam Ali Mosque, a Shia
shrine in the holy city of Najaf killed about 80 people and wounded at least
200. Ayatollah Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Council for
Islamic Revolution in Iraq was among the dead. He was leaving the mosque after
leading the Friday prayers. He spent 23 years in exile in Iran for opposing
Saddam Hussein. He was an uneasy ally of the coalition. It is not yet clear
who was responsible for the attacks. It could be some followers of Saddam Hussein
or other Shia factions who opposed him politically. His brother, Abdul Aziz
al-Hakim who is sitting on the governing council appointed by the Americans
will probably succeed him. On August 30 it was clear that the explosive used
were similar to those used on the UN Headquarters in Baghdad. The police in
Najaf have arrested 4 people, two of them Saudis that are accused of organising
the bombing. They gave information leading to the arrest of 15 others (including
two Kuwaitis and six Palestinians with Jordanian passports), all of them admitted
to be linked to al-Qaida. All of them belong to the Wahabi sect (of Sunni Islam).
The members of the Wahabi sect claim that the Shia's rituals are idolatrous.
The coffin with the remains of Ayatollah Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim -apparently
only a hand with wedding ring, a pen and his watch- went to Baghdad on August
31 where hundred of thousand of people went to the streets around the Kadhimain
mosque to begin three days of mourning. Later in the day it would be taken to
the holy city of Kerbala. The funeral will take place in Najaf on September
2.
On September 2, 2003, the Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakin's funerals took
place in Najaf. Hundred of thousand of Shia Muslims were present and asked
for the end of the US-led military occupation of Iraq. They also blamed the
Americans for the death of al-Hakin and about 100 more Iraqis.