Shiites Mark Holy Day Amid Hope, Violence

Iraq’s Shiite Muslims marked their holiest day Saturday with emotional displays of faith, defying a wave of suicide attacks that killed at least 54 people and wounded more than 130.

In the sacred cities of Najaf and Karbala, Shiites tore at themselves with chains and swords in memory of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the prophet Muhammad’s grandson.

Despite the violence, the public commemoration of the Ashura holiday added to a sense of hope that has burgeoned since the end of January, when a Shiite-backed political alliance swept to victory in the national assembly election.

“The terrorists will not succeed,” said Majeed Abed Kareem, 62, who had traveled a long way from his home in southern Iraq to Karbala to join the celebrations, which had been banned under the regime of Saddam Hussein, a secular Sunni Muslim.

More than two dozen Iraqi soldiers, 27 civilians and a U.S. soldier were killed in eight suicide bombings and a mortar attack, as blasts thundered through Baghdad in what was believed to be the worst wave of suicide bombings in nearly a year. It was the deadliest day since the elections nearly three weeks ago, when more than 35 Iraqis were killed in attacks that also left 31 insurgents dead.

Still, the violence was less than U.S. and Iraqi security forces had feared. During last year’s Ashura, as many as 200 people were killed and hundreds more injured in Karbala and Baghdad as suicide bombers weaved into crowds of worshipers and detonated themselves.

Police officials had worried that the large gatherings of Shiite worshipers would be assaulted by Iraq’s insurgents, believed to be dominated by Sunnis, who largely frown upon the Ashura ceremonies. Some Sunni extremists regard Shiites as heretics. Most of those killed Saturday were Shiites.

Electoral uncertainty made the risk seem greater, as Shiite leaders debated how best to ensure the country’s stability by reaching out to Sunnis, who largely boycotted the election.

To prevent a recurrence of last year’s violence, Iraq closed its borders with its Shiite neighbor, Iran, halting streams of pilgrims from joining the celebrations. Iraqi security officials and Shiite religious militias also saturated holy sites throughout Iraq, in some cases shutting off streets to traffic and setting up checkpoints every 30 feet.

Iraqi police commanders hailed their security measures, which were achieved with a minimal U.S. presence.

In Karbala and the northern city of Kirkuk, police announced the capture of nine suspected insurgents, including Harbi abd Khudair, allegedly the leader of a cell in Kirkuk, and Haidar abu Bawari, described as a top aide to Jordanian militant Abu Musab Zarqawi. Police also began patrolling the city of Fallouja in the Sunni heartland after a three-month absence.

“Our national guard, with the new army, has transformed from a tool in the hand of the tyrant [Hussein] to kill people ... to a system which protects people,” said Maj. Waleed Fakir Abbas, deputy commander of the Iraqi national guard in Karbala.

A delegation of U.S. senators also expressed guarded optimism about Iraq’s future after daylong meetings in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone with American and Iraqi officials.

Still, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said it was clear that a long-term U.S. presence was needed to ensure stability.

“We’re a long way away from being able to leave,” said Graham, who is a member of the Armed Services Committee. “If the Iraqi people want us to stay, we’re going to be here for a while in large numbers.”

The most serious incidents Saturday occurred in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiya, site of one of the city’s most important Shiite mosques.

In the day’s deadliest incident, a suicide bomber boarded a bus and detonated an explosives-laden vest in a central square in Kadhimiya, which was filled with worshipers. Seventeen people were killed, including a child, and 41 were wounded, according to wire service reports. U.S. military units sealed off the area.

In another incident in Kadhimiya, a suicide bomber blew himself up near the Nada mosque, killing seven Shiites, including three national guard members, according to wire reports citing a police officer. Fifty-five people were injured.

Two suicide bombers also died in Kadhimiya: one who blew himself up at a local academic institution but killed no one, and another who was apparently shot by U.S. troops, police Capt. Hazim Ibrahim told Associated Press. A suicide bomber killed two Iraqi national guard members in northern Baghdad.

It was unclear which suicide attack took the life of the U.S. soldier, who was part of a unit responding to a request for help from Iraqi forces after an explosion. In a separate incident Saturday, the U.S. military said a Marine was killed in action in Al Anbar province, west of Baghdad. No details were immediately available.

In another suicide attack, a bomber drove his scooter into a tent in a lower-income neighborhood in western Baghdad filled with people mourning an elderly Sunni woman who died recently.

The blast killed six, including the woman’s husband and two of her older sons, and wounded 37, some seriously, witnesses and local hospital officials said. The bomber’s remains were scattered on the street, and the scooter’s handlebars were hanging from electrical wires overhead.

Witnesses speculated that the bomber may have confused the mourning tent with the tents set up for Ashura, when many Shiites cook food outdoors in huge pots to feed friends, neighbors and pilgrims.

“Our neighborhood is very quiet,” said Sadie Amiry, a neighbor of the dead woman, who was identified as Umm Ahmed Falahi. “Although it’s mixed [between Sunnis and Shiites], we’ve never had any problems.”

An attacker blew up his car at an Iraqi army checkpoint in Latifiya, south of the capital, killing nine Iraqi soldiers, defense officials told reporters.

Six other Iraqi national guardsmen were killed in a mortar attack on the main highway between Baghdad and Hillah, Capt. Sabah Yasin told Associated Press.

In Baqubah, northeast of Baghdad, six Iraqi guardsmen were killed when a suicide bomber driving a car detonated the vehicle outside a military base, Yasin said. A militant website posted claims of responsibility from a self-described Al Qaeda affiliate in Iraq for the Baqubah bombing and an attack on a police checkpoint in Baghdad. It was not possible to verify the claims.