Across the world, one could argue that the world’s biggest Islamophobes are Sunnis attacking Shi’ites, and vice-versa. Where’s the outrage for that? “Dozens Killed in Attack on Iraqi Funeral Procession,” by Sam Dagher and Ali A. Nabhan for the Wall Street Journal, January 27:
BAGHDAD””Dozens of people were killed and wounded when a suicide car bomber attacked a funeral procession in Baghdad on Friday, days after an al Qaeda-linked insurgent group warned it would step up its fight against Iraq’s government, security forces and Shiite majority.
The suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a crowd that included the pallbearers at a funeral for an Iraqi army commander’s brother, according to a Ministry of Interior official. The commander had been assassinated along with three other people on Thursday.
Friday’s attack in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Zafaraniyah on the capital’s southeastern side left at least 31 people dead and another 60 wounded, according to the official.
The explosion happened in a congested section of the working class neighborhood near a hospital, an outdoor food market and an apartment building.
“I saw bodies strewn all over the place,” said a witness. “The women fishmongers are all gone, not a single one is left.”
Hours after the attack a fire truck was seen hosing down blood and debris at the scene as grieving families waited to receive the bodies of their loved ones from the hospital for burial.
In a separate attack before nightfall, a roadside bomb planted next to an outdoor soccer field in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Ghazaliya in western Baghdad killed one person and wounded three, according to the Ministry of Interior official. There was no claim of responsibility for Friday’s attacks.
The attacks came after a warning earlier this week of more violence from a group linked to al Qaeda in Iraq.
“Today we have retaken the initiative attacking and appearing whenever and wherever we please,” said a man identifying himself as Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, the spokesman for the Islamic State of Iraq, in an audio message posted online this week. The group is typically described as a front for al Qaeda in Iraq. The authenticity of the recording couldn’t be independently verified.
Iraq has seen a significant increase over the past few weeks in suicide bombings, the type of violence usually associated with al Qaeda-linked militants.
The Islamic State of Iraq, which was significantly weakened in recent years following the deaths and capture of many of its leaders, appears to be exploiting the end of the U.S. military mission in Iraq last month, the Iraqi government’s distraction by a political crisis and a rise in sectarian tensions. The group’s goal is to establish a fundamentalist Sunni Islamic state in Iraq. It considers the country’s Shiite majority apostates….
And apostates are lawful for slaughter under Islamic law. By the same principle by which Shi’ite Iran wants to execute a Christian pastor who left Islam, al-Qaeda in Iraq wants to execute Shi’ites.