A prayer for unity, then carnage

Relatives of murdered cleric blame Saddam loyalists seeking to destabilise Shia groups
Less than four months ago at the Imam Ali shrine, thousands of devoted followers greeted Ayatollah Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim's return after more than two decades.

That hot May afternoon, he spoke of a future in which Iraqis would at last elect their own government and live independent of dictatorship and foreign occupation. "By blood, by the sword, we are going to sacrifice for you, Hakim," the cheering crowd chanted.

Yesterday the same mosque in Najaf, the holiest site in the Shia Islamic faith, was the scene of his assassination in a well-orchestrated but brutal attack on the most influential Shia force in Iraq.

Ayatollah Hakim had just delivered a sermon at noon prayers from a balcony inside the mosque. As he was leaving the main entrance, thousands of worshippers streaming out in his wake, the car bomb exploded.

The force of the blast was so great it left a 4ft deep crater and blew mosaic tiles off the shrine. Nearby cars were turned into twisted hunks of metal and shops on the opposite side of the square collapsed into rubble.

The scene was one of carnage, body parts strewn across the square. Hours later there was still pandemonium as people screamed in grief and anger, and searched the rubble for more victims.

"Even the Americans didn't bomb us like this," one woman screamed through her tears.

"I saw al-Hakim walk out of the shrine after his sermon and moments later there was a massive explosion. There were many dead bodies," said Abdul Amir Jassem, a 40-year-old merchant who was in the mosque. "He was praying for Iraqi unity."

Doctors at a nearby hospital were overwhelmed by the numbers of dead and injured. Wards were soon full and a call went out for relatives and friends of the victims to give blood.

The fury on the streets was reflected by Nagih Salah, 40, a truck driver who was near the shrine at the time of the blast. "The people who did this are traitors and bastards. They are not real Iraqis," he said.

It is ironic that the unity Ayatollah Hakim prayed for in his sermon yesterday could be dealt one of its greatest blows by his death. Exactly who was responsible is likely to have a profound effect on what happens next in Iraq.

So far nobody has claimed responsibility, but supporters and family of the slain ayatollah, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), blamed Saddam loyalists.

Others, however, suggested it might have been the work of a rival Shi'ite faction, led by the fiery young cleric, Moktada al-Sadr, which is vehemently opposed to Ayatollah Hakim's support for the US military occupation of Iraq.

Ahmed Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress, blamed the US for failing to provide adequate security and said Saddam loyalists had carried out the bombing to create discord between Shias and Sunnis.

While Shias make up 60% of Iraq's 24 million population, they were repressed by Saddam's regime, whose power base was taken from the Sunni strongholds around Baghdad.

Ghaleb al-Mesawi, editor in chief of the SCIRI newspaper al-Adala, blamed Sunni regime loyalists for the attack. "The people who have done this are supporters of Saddam, and they are Sunnis. They are hoping to draw battle lines between the Sunnis and the Shi'ite in Iraq."

But Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi scholar with the Royal United Services Institute in London, said he believed the attack was a result of Shia infighting.

"I think that the group of al-Sadr might be behind it because, of all the Shia groups, they are the only ones using violence," he said. "Without violence I don't think al-Sadr would be able to play a major role because he is not a high-ranking religious leader or a high-ranking political leader."

Whatever group carried out the bombing investigators are likely to have a hard job finding out. American experts are unlikely to help as Najaf has been a no-go area for US troops since April.

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