A Sunni woman seeks jihad martyrdom by murdering Shi’ite pilgrims at a shrine in Brave New Peaceful and Democratic Baghdad. “Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 37 Near Shrine,” by Timothy Williams for the New York Times, January 4 (thanks to all who sent this in):
BAGHDAD “” A woman wearing an explosive belt blew herself up near the entrance of a revered Shiite shrine Sunday morning in Baghdad, killing at least 37 people, many of them Shiite pilgrims, according to the Ministry of the Interior. As many as 53 others were wounded in the attack, which occurred during a Shiite holy month.
The suicide bombing outside the Imam Moussa Al-kadhim shrine in the Kadhimiyah neighborhood came nine days after a Dec. 26 car bomb killed 24 people and wounded 46 others after it had exploded on a busy road near the same shrine.
The timing and location of each bombing appeared to be intended to reignite sectarian violence, from which Iraq had shown signs of emerging in recent months.
Sunday”s attack, which occurred at about 11:30 a.m., came during Muharram, among the holiest months for all Muslims but particularly for Shiites, who prepare to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. Imam Hussein was killed during a battle against the forces of a Sunni caliph in 680.
The suicide bomber may have been targeting Shiite pilgrims from Iran, who were at the mosque in large numbers at the time, said a Ministry of Interior official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Of the dead, 24 were Iraqi and 16 Iranian, while 32 of the wounded are Iranian, with 14 from Iraq.
Yet if you ask the OIC, the biggest problem Muslims face is “Islamophobia.”