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Iraq Insurgents Trying `Everything' to Spark War, Minister Says Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said insurgents are trying ``everything'' to foment civil war as reprisal attacks followed yesterday's bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, sacred to Shiite Muslims. ``Anti-democratic forces have tried everything to push the country into a civil war and sectarian violence,'' Zebari said today in a phone interview from Baghdad, blaming the attack on extremists and supporters of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein. ``This is the biggest challenge we as Iraqis face, and efforts are under way to prevent it.'' After the Samarra blast destroyed the shrine's golden dome, about 30 Sunni Muslim mosques were attacked, and at least three Mullahs, or religious leaders, were killed, Zebari said. Eighty bullet-ridden corpses have been taken to a Baghdad morgue since yesterday afternoon, Agence France-Presse reported. At an extraordinary meeting of the Iraqi cabinet yesterday, ministers decided to increase security surrounding mosques and other places of worships, a curfew was placed on Baghdad and Salahaddin province, where Samarra lies, and meetings were called for Iraq's political and religious leaders, Zebari said. Politicians are meeting today with President Jalal Talabani and will call for a joint demonstration of Shiites and Sunni Muslims to show unity, Zebari said. A meeting of religious leaders will probably take place today or tomorrow, he said. ``We invite the faithful to protest and express their condemnations, on the violation of their sanctities, by peaceful means,'' the office of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most senior Shiite cleric, said in an online statement. ``We stress upon everyone going through the shock of this atrocious crime not to be drawn into what the enemies want them to be drawn into, which is sectarian discord.'' Sunni Party Sistani's call for calm echoed appeals yesterday made by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who declared three days of national mourning, and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who appealed for Iraqis to show ``maximum restraint.'' Tariq al-Hashemi, leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party, the biggest Sunni bloc, called in an online statement for Sunnis to ``calm down, not to be dragged to a civil war as nobody will win.'' The party's office in the southern Shiite dominated-city of Basra were torched by armed men, al-Hashemi said in the statement, posted yesterday on the party's Web site. Zebari said that of yesterday's attacks on Sunni mosques, six or seven were ``serious,'' involving fires, while the remainder involved gunshots and other lower-level violence. ``The situation calmed down since yesterday afternoon and evening, after Sistani appealed for restraint,'' Zebari said. `Maintain Momentum' Twelve people, including eight Iraqi soldiers, were killed today in a bombing in Baqubah, northeast of Baghdad, AFP said. A further 20 people were wounded, the agency reported. The Samarra attack won't stop efforts to form a government following elections last December, Zebari said. ``We believe the timing of this attack is linked to ongoing efforts to form a government of national unity,'' the minister said. ``It's an attempt to derail this process, but everybody is determined to maintain the momentum.'' The Golden Mosque contains the remains of Imam Ali al-Hadi, who died in 868 A.D. and his son Imam Hassan al-Askari, who died in 874 A.D. Both were descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. A site of Shiite pilgrimage, the shrine dates from the 9th century, though the golden dome was only completed in 1904. Samarra lies about 80 miles (125 kilometers) north of Baghdad. Al-Jaafari's office said yesterday that a ``number'' of people were arrested and linked to the attack on the mosque. Zebari said that tests on three suspects proved positive for explosives. He had no further details. ---------------------------------------------------
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