Al-Sadr has canceled the march to Samarra - Aswat Al Iraq
Al-Sadr has canceled the march to Samarra. Aswat Al Iraq’s report is below:
Al-Sadr cancels march to Samarra
Najaf - Voices of Iraq Friday , 29 /06 /2007 Time 4:12:55
Najaf, June 29, (VOI) - The Imam of al-Kufa mosque said on Friday that Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr decided to cancel his call to visit the city of Samarra scheduled for next weekend.
Photos:
Muqtada al-Sadr’s aide Sheikh Asad Al-Nassiri, Muqtada al-Sadr, speaks during a Friday sermon in Kufa,Friday, June 29, 2007. During the sermon Al-Nassiri announced that al-Sadr has called off his followers’ march to theshrine of the two Imams he cited several reasons, including the government’s inability to secure the route and many officials’ appeals for a postponement.
A man in the congregation weeps after the announcement that the march to Samarra has been postponed.
During the Friday sermon in al-Kufa mosque, Sheikh Assad al-Naseri said that “Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr issued an order to cancel our march to Samarra after the government decided to abandon protection for the visitors.”
During the sermon which was attended by thousands of al-Sadr’s followers, the imam also said, “If the government is no longer able to protect citizens it has to step aside.”
Al-Kufa mosque is the place where al-Sadr used to deliver his Friday sermon.
Al-Sadr called on his followers on Thursday to march on the city of Samarra after suspected al-Qaeda militants blew up the two minarets of the revered al-Askari mosque on June 13.
Sunni Samarra is located 100 km north of Baghdad.
He made his call to pressure the government to speed up reconstruction operations for the mosque, which had its dome attacked in February 2006 and was attacked again recently this month.
“We want Iraqis, tribes, community leaders and officials to show goodwill and cooperation to make this visit successful and a turning point in broken relations, because the criminals who destroyed the shrine will not be pleased (by this march),” said the statement released from al-Sadr’s office in the Shiite city of Najaf on Thursday.
The prime minister’s office later released a statement saying more time was needed to make the road to Samarra safe.
“While we take into account the emotion of people who want to march peacefully to Samarra, we say that the task of securing the road is still incomplete according to reports from field leaders on the ground,” the government statement said.
The latest attack on the al-Askari mosque occurred more than a year after gunmen blew up the shrine’s golden dome in February 2006. That attack sparked waves of sectarian violence that has pushed Iraq close to all-out civil war.
The al-Askari Mosque, also known as the Golden Mosque, is one of the four major Shiite shrines in Iraq.
Two of the 12 revered Shiite imams are buried in the shrine: Imam Ali al-Hadi, who died in 868, and his son, the 11th imam Hasan al-Askari, who died in 874.
Source: Aswat Al Iraq (English) The Arabic Text forthis report is here.
Indexed under: Aswat Al Iraq - News, Kufa, Salah ad Din (Governorate), Samarra
June 29th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
[…] that Al-Sadr has canceled the March to the bombed shrine of the two Imams in Sammara. (see immediately preceding posting for full report.) The Iraqi Accord Front have praised the move. saying that it […]