Wednesday, March 3, 2004
Iran blames Al-Qaeda for Iraq, Pakistan explosions
Associated Press Tehran, March 3
An Iranian vice president blamed Al-Qaeda for Tuesday's attacks on Shiite Muslims in Iraq and Pakistan, saying the group's rigid thinking was to blame as his largely Shiite nation condemned the assaults that killed at least 184 people, including more than 20 Iranian pilgrims.
``The reactionary Al-Qaeda terror group reached a conclusion ... That they have two enemies: the United States as the political enemy and Shiites as the ideological enemy,'' Mohammad Ali Abtahi wrote in a message posted on his personal Web site.
Abtahi, Iran's vice president for legal and parliamentary affairs, said Al-Qaeda considers Shiites more dangerous than their political enemy. Al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, is a predominantly Sunni militant group, and draws its members from some of the most conservative streams of Sunni thought - segments of Muslim society that consider Shiites heretics.
``Blasts in Karbala and Kazimiya (shrine in Baghdad) today ... Are the direct result of this reactionary religious thinking'' Abtahi wrote.
At least 143 people were killed and hundreds were wounded in today's nearly simultaneous bombings in Baghdad and Karbala, which came during the Shiite festival of Ashoura. They coincided with a shooting attack on Shiite worshippers in Quetta, Pakistan, that killed at least 41 people and wounded more than 150.
At least 22 Iranian pilgrims were killed and 69 others injured in explosions in Karbala today, Iranian Interior Ministry spokesman Jahanbakhsh Khanjani said.
© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2004.