Hakim Dead; Hell to pay

by RonK, Seattle

Iraq's leading Shi'ite cleric, SCIRI's Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim and many followers reported dead in car-bombing at his mosque in Najaf. Imam Ali mosque is the premier Shi'a holy site in Iraq ... no damage reports minor damage to mosque facings, more damage to neighboring buildings.

Casualty reports are incomplete, but the blast occurred during Friday prayer when the area would be crowded. FOX reports car bomb left a three-foot crater ... bigger than a run-of-the-mill "improvised explosive", but not of truck-bomb proportions.

Chalabi blames US for lack of security. Everybody will blame US. Reprisals and counterreprisals may spread beyond Iraqi borders.

Early details on WaPo here ... thx, DeepDark

In comments, paper_tigress sorts out the Hakims:

Assassinated today was Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim, the leader of an Iran-backed group, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). He was closely aligned with the Iranians.

His brother, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, deputy head of SCIRI, is one of the 9 Interim Governing Council members.

Their uncle is Grand Ayatollah Seyed Mohammed Said al-Hakim, who was slightly injured today.

Said al-Hakim escaped serious injury in a bombing at his home last week.

Round up the usual suspects, i.e., everybody.

[Updating on the fly, pls excuse lack of annotation.]

Posted August 29, 2003 06:40 AM | Comments (181)