Many people in Najaf accused the US of being behind the bombing, implausible as that is. And these were the Shia, many of whom at first welcomed the Americans as liberators from Saddam Hussein, under whom they were murdered and tortured There has been no active Shia resistance so far. But if the bombers' aim was to stir up trouble for the Americans, they succeeded. Even those who did not blame Americans for the bombing were angry with the US. "They did not protect our religious leader," said Karar Hassan, a shopkeeper. There were no American soldiers in Najaf before the bombing the Americans said because they did not want to offend religious sensitivities Security was controlled by the Iraqi police. "The police are afraid to clear people from in front of the shrine How can they protect the people?" asked Mr Hassan.
As to who was behind the bombing, there are many possible culprits "Not all the people loved Ayatollah Hakim," said one local. The cleric had many enemies, both because of his years running an opposition group from Iran the enemy during the 1980s war in which hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died and because he endorsed the US-appointed Iraqi "Governing Council" and sent his brother to be a member of it. The Americans have so far offered no evidence to back their claims that "hundreds" of foreign Islamic fighters along the lines of al-Qa'ida have crossed into Iraq, though some may indeed have come. A senior Iraqi investigator said that those arrested included two Kuwaitis, six Palestinians, as well as Saudis and Iraqis.
He claimed that they all belonged to the Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam. Meanwhile the US ignores evidence of home-grown resistance groups, other than "Saddam loyalists", that have been behind many of the attacks on US patrols and could have been involved in this bombing. Najaf was already tense from the power struggle for political leadership of Iraq's Shias and over how far the Shias should resist the occupation. Now, with one of the contenders for that leadership dead, it is a dangerous place for the future of the occupation..
More than 300,000 mourners today began a two-day funeral march from Baghdad to Najaf, the holy city where a leading Shiite Muslim cleric was among 85 killed in Friday's car bombing. Authorities said they could only find the ayatollah's hand, watch, wedding band and a pen."Our revenge will be severe on the killers," read one of the many banners carried by mourners."Saddam and Bush will not humiliate us," read another.Red and white roses were laid on the coffin and a large portrait of the cleric was placed at its front.The procession began at the al-Kadhimiyah Shrine, one of Baghdad's most sacred Shiite sites, and was expected to grow as it weaves its way more than 100 miles south, stopping at holy sites in Karbala before arriving at the blast site, Najaf's Imam Ali Shrine, for the funeral on Tuesday.Police detained two Iraqis and two Saudis shortly after the Friday attack and then a further 15 suspects, said a senior police official in Najaf. They include two Kuwaitis and six Palestinians with Jordanian passports. The remainder are Iraqis and Saudis, the official said.Initial information shows the foreigners entered Iraq from neighboring Kuwait, Syria and Jordan, the official said, adding that they belong to the Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam."They are all connected to al-Qa'ida," the official said.Wahhabism is the strict, fundamentalist branch of Sunni Islam from which al-Qa'ida leader Osama bin Laden draws spiritual direction. Based in Saudi Arabia, its followers show little tolerance for non-Wahhabi Sunnis and Shiites.The bomb at the shrine the burial place of the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad was made from the same type of materials used in the truck bombing at the UN headquarters in Baghdad, which killed 23 people, and the Jordanian Embassy car bomb, which killed 19, the Iraqi official said.Hospital officials said 85 people died in the shrine bombing. Earlier tolls were reduced after some deaths were found to have been reported twice.In response to the bombing, a highly respected Shiite cleric suspended his membership in the US-chosen Iraqi interim Governing Council, citing a lack of security.Mohammed Bahr al-Uloum said that his return to the council depended on the US-led coalition's handing security matters to Iraqis, so that Muslim shrines could be under Islamic protection."This act has pushed me to postpone my membership in the governing council because it can't do anything concerning the security situation," he said.In the latest sabotage, an explosion and fire damagedk the pipeline carrying oil from Iraq's northern Kirkuk fields to Turkey. The blaze further delayed resumption of the vital link which costs Iraqis an estimated $7 million each day it is out of operation.
