In spite of Sistani's calls for peace the Sunni/Shi'ite tension keeps building:
<<Iraq Sunni cleric blames Shi'ites for killings By Diala Saadeh
2 hours, 57 minutes ago
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A top Sunni Muslim cleric publicly accused the militia of the main Shi'ite political party on Wednesday of assassinating Sunni preachers, in the latest sign of sectarian tensions that have raised fears of civil war.
"The parties that are behind the campaign of killings of preachers of mosques and worshippers are ... the Badr Brigades," Harith al-Dhari, head of the influential Sunni Muslim Clerics Association, told a news conference.
"Badr forces are responsible for the escalating tensions," he said.
The Muslim Clerics Association called for a three-day closure of Sunni mosques in protest at the killings.
It was the first time Dhari has publicly accused the militant wing of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), which won January's elections in a Shi'ite coalition.
A senior Badr official, Hadi al-Amiri, denied the accusations.
"I consider these comments from Dhari to be irresponsible and only serve to pour fuel on the flames. It does not benefit the stability of Iraq's security in any way," he said.
"We Iraqis, Sunnis and Shi'ite, should all stand against terrorism and against anyone who wants to draw us into a sectarian battle."
Dhari's comments come at a time when escalating suicide bombings and shootings have raised concerns of civil war.
More than 400 people have been killed since a new Iraqi government was named late last month. Most of the attacks have been blamed on Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has been accused of trying to spark civil war.
Zarqawi called for suicide attacks against U.S. forces to be stepped up in an audiotape message attributed to him on Wednesday.
He also defended the killing of "innocent Muslims" in suicide bombings, saying it was legitimate for the sake of jihad (holy war).
"The killing of infidels by any method including martyrdom (suicide) operations has been sanctified by many scholars even if it means killing innocent Muslims," the tape said.
The message, posted on an Islamist Web site, appeared aimed at winning Sunni Muslim support for the insurgency.
The speaker also branded the majority Shi'ite Muslim community as "rejectionists who fought alongside the worshippers of the cross and spearheaded every war against (Sunni) Muslims."
A senior U.S. military official said the recent upsurge in car bomb attacks had been ordered by Zarqawi at a meeting of insurgents in Syria and marked a shift in tactics.
He also suggested that some of the bombers were being forced into suicide strikes. In an attack last week police found the driver's foot taped to the accelerator pedal.
FUNERAL
Iraq's spiralling violence is set against dramatic changes in Iraq's power structure. Shi'ites and Kurds became the dominant groups after the elections and minority Sunnis, privileged under Saddam Hussein, have been sidelined.
Police have recently found bodies dumped in various locations, including rubbish tips, of victims who were shot dead execution-style. Fifty bodies have been found since Saturday.
Most of the victims were Shi'ites but some were Sunnis.
Hassan Nuaimi, a senior member of the Muslim Clerics Association, was found dead in Baghdad on Tuesday, a day after the group accused the Shi'ite-led government of state terrorism.
Guerrillas shot two other Shi'ite clerics in the capital on Tuesday. SCIRI member Mani Hassan was gunned down in front of his house and Muwaffaq Mansour's car was ambushed.
Hundreds of angry Sunnis attended Nuaimi's funeral on Wednesday and condemned the Iraqi government.
"The interior minister is the biggest terrorist," read one banner, referring to the Shi'ite official.
Dhari said Sunnis would not keep silent over the killings.
"We are heading toward a catastrophe, only God knows when it will end, this is a warning from us," he said.
The Badr Brigades spent many years in exile in Iran during Saddam's rule.
They returned to Iraq after Saddam was toppled in 2003 and changed their name to the Badr Organization. Although they call themselves a political group many Iraqis believe they are still a militia.
Dhari appealed to Iran to help stop the killing. Tehran has said it does not interfere in Iraqi affairs.
In Baghdad, gunmen shot dead an Interior Ministry official as he left home on Wednesday, and al Qaeda's wing in Iraq claimed responsibility in an Internet statement.
The bodies of seven Iraqi Turkmen who had been ambushed near Falluja were also found, police said.
(Additional reporting by Mussab al-Khairalla in Baghdad and Majid al-Hameed in Ramadi)>>
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