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Insurgents destroy shrine’s minarets

Iraqis walk past the damaged shrine following an explosion in Samarra on Feb. 22, 2006. A large explosion Wednesday heavily damaged the golden dome of the same shrine, sending protesters pouring into the streets. (File Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Qassim Abdul-zahra Associated Press
Iraqis walk past the damaged shrine following an explosion in Samarra on Feb. 22, 2006. A large explosion Wednesday heavily damaged the golden dome of the same shrine, sending protesters pouring into the streets. (File Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

BAGHDAD – Insurgents today blew up the two minarets of the Golden Dome Shiite shrine in Samarra, where a 2006 bombing unleashed a wave of sectarian violence that bloodied Iraq for more than a year, Iraqi police and a security official said.

The attack occurred around 9 a.m., despite a police presence at the site, officials said. Police in Samarra spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, and a security official in Baghdad confirmed the account on the same condition.

The al-Askari shrine’s dome was destroyed in a February 2006 bombing that was blamed on al-Qaida-linked militants. The mosque compound and minarets remained intact, and have been guarded since then by Iraqi police and commandos.

The U.S. military headquarters in the area had no immediate information about today’s attack. “We’re only hearing initial reports ourselves, and we’re looking into it,” said Capt. Jennifer Nihill, a spokeswoman for Task Force Lightning.

The attack came a day after U.S. and Iraqi forces raided a sweets factory being used as a headquarters by suspected Sunni insurgents in northern Iraq, which has seen a recent rise in violence as militants have fled a nearly 4-month-old security crackdown in Baghdad.

The discovery illustrated the challenges faced by American and Iraqi troops trying to stop the unrelenting violence even as militants consistently find new ways to thwart stepped-up security measures.

The Bush administration, meanwhile, stepped up pressure on the political front Tuesday, sending the No. 2 State Department official to Baghdad, where he met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other Iraqi officials.

Al-Maliki assured Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte that his government would persist in its efforts to pass a controversial oil law as well as a bill allowing former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party to return to government jobs and join the military.

The meeting came at a time when the Americans are pressing the Shiite-led government to show progress on political reforms to bring the disaffected Sunni minority into the political process and stem support for the insurgency.

“A lot of missions are ahead of us, on top of them is developing our security forces to handle their national roles in fighting the al-Qaida terrorist group, Saddamists and militias to impose law and order in all the country,” al-Maliki told Negroponte as the two men sat on gilded chairs in the prime minister’s office in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have pinned their hopes on the adoption of the laws as well as the Baghdad operation to quell sectarian attacks, but Iraq’s fractured political parties have failed to reach final agreement on any of them.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that Adm. William Fallon, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, warned al-Maliki on Sunday that the Iraqi government needs to make tangible political progress by next month to counter growing congressional opposition to the war.

He singled out the oil bill, which if approved is expected to encourage foreign oil companies to invest in Iraq and spur the country to attain its goal of doubling current production of 2.5 million barrels a day by 2010.