- BAGHDAD (AFP) - A woman was
killed and eight other people were wounded in the pre-dawn bombing of a
homeless shelter run by Iraq's largest Shiite Muslim political group, an
official said.
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- The building collapsed on to families sleeping in the
west Baghdad compound of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution
in Iraq (SCIRI), which also houses a religious school.
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- "One woman died and eight other people were injured
from the explosion in premises occupied by three families," said Mohsen
al-Hakim, a nephew of Abdel Aziz al-Hakim who heads the organization and
is current chairman of Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council.
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- He said the blast was detonated by remote control.
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- "We were asleep and suddenly about five o'clock
in the morning (0200 GMT) the roof fell on us," said Ahmed Rahim,
23, a nephew of the woman who died. "We were buried under the rubble
and our neighbours came and helped us get out."
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- As he spoke, a sheikh from the religious school arrived
and Rahim cried out: "Why didn't you tell us it is dangerous here?"
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- Sheikh Abd al-Wahid replied that the bombings are happening
all over Iraq.
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- "It is Saddam's people who commit these attacks,"
he said.
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- Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein, a secular Muslim from
the Sunni minority, was overthrown in April by invading US-led troops and
captured last Saturday after more than eight months on the run.
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- The bombed Shiite compound was formerly used by the Baath
party which backed Saddam's regime.
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- Thousands of homeless people are squatting in former
government buildings around Baghdad.
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- "We aren't surprised by this attack," Wahid
told AFP. "Our only crime is to teach the Koran. The people who did
this are the same ones who killed Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim."
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- SCIRI was hit hard by the August car bomb assassination
of Mohammed al-Hakim, its then leader. Another 82 people died in that attack
in south-central holy city of Najaf.
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- Mohsen al-Hakim blamed "agents of the old regime
and terrorists" for Friday's bombing, which came two days after a
SCIRI member was gunned down outside his Baghdad home.
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- Mohannad al-Hakim, who is not related to the SCIRI chief,
was shot dead Wednesday, Dr. Hamed al-Bayati, the London representative
for SCIRI, said earlier.
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- "It's not the first time that our offices and officials
have become victims of this kind of attack which aims to weaken us and
remove us from the Iraqi scene," Mohsen al-Hakim said.
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- Loyalists of Saddam, who favoured the Sunnis during his
rule, have launched a campaign of bombings and shootings against the majority
Shiites and pro-coalition Iraqis, as well as the US-led forces occupying
Iraq, as they seek to wreak havoc on US-led rebuilding efforts.
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