Iraq braces for more violence after mosque attack kills 70
BAGHDAD, Aug 23, 2014 (AFP) -
Iraqi officials worked today to calm soaring tensions after the killing of 70 people at a Sunni mosque, as Washington branded the beheading of an American journalist a “terrorist attack”.
And in the latest violence, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at the entrance to the interior ministry's intelligence headquarters in Baghdad, killing six people, officials said.
The attack at the mosque in Diyala province the day before, which most accounts said was the work of Shiite militiamen, threatens to increase anger among Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority with the Shiite-led government at a time when an anti-militant drive depends on their cooperation.
The violence came as the US, which is carrying out air strikes in Iraq against Islamic State (IS) jihadists, ramped up its rhetoric over the grisly killing of journalist James Foley, carried out by the group and shown in a video posted online.
Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said the Foley's beheading “represents a terrorist attack against our country”.
Today, Iraq's Sunni parliament speaker sought to calm sectarian tensions stirred by the mosque attack.
Salim al-Juburi called for political unity and said “the main aim (of the attack) is to foil all the efforts that have been made to form a government”.
“All the political entities condemned the crime, all of them expressed their anger about what happened,” he said in televised remarks.
“Now we are waiting for practical measures to hold the criminals accountable.”
Premier-designate Haidar al-Abadi, a Shiite, has condemned the attack and called for “citizens to close ranks to deny the opportunity to the enemies of Iraq who are trying to provoke strife”.
The UN warned today of the danger of another instance of large-scale killing in a Shiite Turkmenmajority Iraqi town, which has been besieged by IS militants for more than two months.
“The situation of the people in Amerli is desperate and demands immediate action to prevent the possible massacre of its citizens,” UN Iraq envoy Nickolay Mladenov said in a statement.
Abadi and Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, both also called for efforts to help Amerli.
Since launching an air campaign against IS in Iraq on April 8, the US has carried out more than 90 strikes, including three on Friday against militants around Mosul dam, the country's largest.
America's top military officer has said that anti-IS operations in Syria may also be needed.
Foley's killing has stoked Western fears that territory seized by the militants in Syria and Iraq could become a launchpad for a new round of global terror attacks.
Foley, a 40-year-old freelance journalist, was kidnapped in northern Syria in November 2012.
In the execution video, released online, a black-clad militant said he was killed to avenge US air strikes against IS.
The man, speaking with a clear south London accent, paraded a second US reporter, Steven Sotloff, in front of the camera and said he too would die if Washington kept up its attacks.