Ahem... I don't know the background on this gent, or what his vested interests might be in making this claim, but it's amazing how LITTLE play this received in the western media. (...and I think we know where THEIR vested interests lie...)
Courtesy of FTW, InformationClearingHouse & Yahoo! News:
Iraq shrine bombing was specialist job: minister
By Agence France Presse
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060224/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestsamarrabombing
02/25/06 -- The bombing of a revered Shiite shrine which sparked a wave of violence in Iraq was the work of specialists, Construction Minister Jassem Mohammed Jaafar said Friday, adding that the placing of the explosives must have taken at least 12 hours.
"According to initial reports, the bombing was technically well conceived and could only have been carried out by specialists," the minister told Iraqia state television.
Jaafar, who toured the devastated thousand-year-old shrine on Thursday a day after the bombing which brought down its golden dome, said "holes were dug into the mausoleum's four main pillars and packed with explosives."
"Then the charges were connected together and linked to another charge placed just under the dome. The wires were then linked to a detonator which was triggered at a distance," the minister added.
To drill into the pillars would have taken at least four hours per pillar, he also estimated. <...>
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