Najaf, Iraq — A member of the U.S.-picked governing council angrily denounced the occupation in a eulogy for his slain brother before 400,000 Shia mourners on Tuesday, demanding that U.S. troops leave Iraq and blaming them for lax security that led to the cleric's assassination.
Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim spoke in the holy city of Najaf at the funeral of his brother, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, as men brandishing Kalashnikov rifles stood guard every five metres along the roof of Najaf's gold-domed Imam Ali mosque.
Black mourning banners were draped across the shrine, which on Friday became the site of Iraq's bloodiest attack since the fall of Saddam Hussein, killing the moderate cleric. There are varying accounts of how many other people died, ranging from more than 80 to more than 120.
"The occupation force is primarily responsible for the pure blood that was spilled in holy Najaf, the blood of al-Hakim and the faithful group that was present near the mosque," Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim said in his eulogy. "This force is primarily responsible for all this blood and the blood that is shed all over Iraq every day.
Mourners follow the funeral procession for assassinated Iraqi Shia cleric Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim through the streets of Najaf, Iraq, on Tuesday. He was laid to rest in his birthplace after a three-day procession through Baghdad, Karbala, Hilla, Kufa and Najaf. (Scott Nelson/Getty Images)
"Iraq must not remain occupied and the occupation must leave so that we can build Iraq as God wants us to do," he said.
Unable to recover Ayatollah al-Hakim's body after the blast, the family buried a coffin containing his watch, his pen and wedding ring in the 1920 Revolution Square, a cemetery set aside for martyrs in the Shiite uprising against British occupation. Ayatollah al-Hakim's 15 bodyguards, who died with him in the car bombing, were buried in neighbouring plots.
Mourners scooped up sand from the ground in the cemetery to take home as a souvenir.
Earlier, police on loudspeakers implored the crowds jammed shoulder-to-shoulder in the streets surrounding the shrine to allow the truck carrying the ceremonial coffin to pass. Despite their efforts, the truck, was unable to make it to the entrance of the mosque in Najaf, 175 kilometres south of Baghdad.
Police stood with their weapons ready as pumps sprayed water on the mourners after some fainted from the heat.
As the funeral was about to begin, another car bomb exploded in central Baghdad outside police headquarters, wounding an unknown number of bystanders. Huge plumes of black smoke rose above the blast scene, where debris lay scattered around the headquarters. There were no fatalities.
Acting police chief Hassan al-Obeidi has offices in the headquarters building and is closely associated with the U.S.-led occupation authority.
Early Tuesday morning, a U.S. helicopter crashed south of Baghdad, killing one soldier and injuring another in a "non-hostile" incident.
On Monday, two U.S. soldiers were killed and another wounded when a bomb went off beside their convoy in southern Iraq, the military said.
The deaths raised to 286 the number of American forces killed in the Iraq war. Of those 148 died since May 1 when U.S. President George W. Bush declared an end to major fighting. Seventy soldiers have died in combat since Mr. Bush's declaration.
The spiritual leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Islam terrorist group, Mullah Krekar, denied that his organization played any role in the Najaf bombing, or the attacks on the Jordanian embassy on Aug. 7 and the UN headquarters on Aug. 19.
"I consider it very unlikely that members of Ansar al-Islam committed such big and grave acts," Mullah Krekar said in a statement broadcast on the Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV station, adding that his group's Islamic convictions prevent them from striking such targets.
Ayatollah al-Hakim spent more than two decades in exile in Iran, returning only in May.
1
