Release: Suicide Attacks at Shi'a Shrine

CPTers Witness Deadly Attacks at Shi’a Shrine

March 4, 2004

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BAGHDAD--CPTers Jane MacKay Wright, LeAnne Clausen, Matthew Chandler and
Sheila Provencher were on hand to document two violent attacks March 2rd
on a Shi’a pilgrimage at the Kadhum shrine in the Kadhamiya quarter of
Baghdad. Team members were stationed near the shrine at the invitation of
shrine officials after receiving a number of threats against the local
Shi’a community.

The first attack occurred at 5:15a.m., when gunmen opened fire on an Iraqi
Police vehicle stationed outside the shrine, as the height of the
celebration was about to commence. The second attack, occurring at 10a.m.,
included three bombs at a side entrance to the shrine and inside the
large courtyard, where more than ten thousand pilgrims were gathered.
Shrine officials told the CPTers they believe the bombs were on timers
and planted during the morning attack while security guards’ attention
was diverted from the gates.

Team members were inside when the first blast of the 10 a.m. attack
shattered the window of their hotel room. Moving to the roof during the
following explosions, they began filming and photographing the side gate
where most of the damage could be seen. A three-story spray of blood
marred the wall of the shrine to the left of the door. Several bodies lay
on the ground, as well as those badly injured screaming for assistance.

Bystanders helped Red Crescent ambulance workers collect body parts and
carry the dead and wounded away from the scene. Iraqi police cleared the
surrounding plaza and streets. Shrine security guards moved quickly to
empty the shrine interior of pilgrims, fearing more bombs had been set.

Clausen said, “Nobody was expecting the second attack. The festival had
returned to normal with a sense of relief that no one was seriously
injured in the morning attack. The bombings occurred in a lull, when
people outside were settling down for a much deserved mid-morning break.
And then it was hell.”

Iraqi police and shrine security guards had the situation under control
within twenty minutes. However, according to shrine officials, an
unauthorized person had earlier seized the shrine’s loudspeaker in the
chaotic aftermath and announced that “the Americans and the Jewish” were
responsible for the attacks. The speaker also called on the crowd to
declare war on the “enemies of Islam.”

Shortly afterwards, a convoy of US army vehicles­including tanks, humvees,
and two medic vehicles­drove toward the shrine’s main entrance and
blocked the road. Some of the soldiers got out of their vehicles and
began talking to bystanders. Shrine security guards yelled at them to
get back into their vehicles. One guard, running with his machine gun
pointing downwards, gestured frantically to the soldiers to turn around
and leave immediately.

Angered by the soldiers’ presence, a crowd of pilgrims ran toward the
convoy. They first threw their shoes at the convoy, a gesture of extreme
outrage in Arab culture. US soldiers responded by firing into the air.
Men in the crowd then began throwing furniture, rocks, and other debris.
The convoy continued to fire. One man heaved a cinder block through the
window of a Humvee. As the convoy eventually retreated, the crowd
followed them back towards the nearby military base.

“It was frightening,” said Sheila Provencher of South Bend, IN. “They
[U.S. soldiers] were probably just coming to try to help and didn’t
realize how much danger they were in. I was just praying that both they
and the crowd would stay calm so there wouldn’t be a massacre.”

Shrine officials and officials at the U.S. base had negotiated security
arrangements prior to the pilgrimage and U.S. officials were not to enter
the immediate area of the shrine. Base officials also promised that they
would have equipment at the perimeter of the neighborhood that would
detect explosives and other weaponry.

When Sayyid Ali Mussawi al Waahd, overseer of the shrine, learned of the
unauthorized announcement and the soldiers’ arrival, he immediately sent
word to the base commander to withdraw the troops for their own safety.
He also sent his own message to be read on the loudspeaker, appealing for
calm and forbidding revenge attacks on soldiers, police, or other
authorities. U.S. base officials later presented a letter of thanks to al
Waahd for alerting them to the danger to their troops.

Al Waahd later expressed dismay that the public address system was used to
deliver such a message and concern that more extreme factions within the
community were using the tragedy to incite and engage in violence. Several
angry groups tried to assemble throughout the day in response to the
attacks.

To prevent further violence, security officials joined hands creating a
human chain to keep the crowd away from the shrine’s entrance. Workers
cleaned the plaza, and washed the blood off the walls using a fire truck.
Blood donors lined up at the Red Crescent hospital tent located at the
edge of the plaza. U.S. helicopters continued to fly low over the shrine
area for several hours. Al-Waahd reported that one of the suspected
bombers was caught and is being held under guard in hospital.

A half hour before the Kadhum Shrine bombing, a Shia shrine in the holy
city of Kerbalah (90 miles south of Baghdad) was also attacked. Millions
of Shia pilgrims from all over the Muslim world were gathered there. More
than one hundred were killed. Additional attacks took place against Shi’a
pilgrims in Iran and Pakistan.

The next day, CPT made a copy of their video for shrine officials to aid
their investigation. Team members also provided additional accompaniment
to shrine officials at their request, fearing additional attacks through
the end of the festival. Chandler and Clausen also responded to the
shrine’s request for blood donations by giving blood at a local blood
bank. Al Waajd said thirty-eight pilgrims were confirmed dead at the
Kadham attack, and there were several more unidentified bodies. Five of
the known dead were children.

Four days of national mourning were officially declared for the victims.
On Thursday, at CPT Iraq’s Lenten vigil for detainee justice, CPTers also
hung a black banner offering condolences for the victims of the attacks
and calling for an end to violence in Iraq.

Team members have been invited to monitor major pilgrimages at Kadhum and
in Kerbala since the August assassination of Ayatollah al-Hakim in Najaf
which killed 40 pilgrims.

Ashura commemorates the martyrdom of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet
Mohammed. Hussein, whom the Shi’a believe was the rightful successor to
Mohammed, was beheaded in Kerbalah in his quest to claim leadership of the
Muslim religion. During the pilgrimage, young men beat their heads with
swords and flail themselves with chains to empathize with the suffering of
their patriarch. Others beat their chests or foreheads in a wailing
gesture to grieve the death. This pilgrimage, as with other Shi’a
religious festivals, was forbidden by the Saddam regime. The bombings
occurred on the last day of a defining Shi’a religious observance that has
been suppressed in Iraq for 35 years.


Christian Peacemaker Teams is a program of Brethren, Quaker and Mennonite
Churches. CPT P. O. Box 6508 Chicago, IL 60680 tel. 773-277-0253; Fax:
773-277-0291, E-Mail Peacemakers@cpt.org WEB www.cpt.org



Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical violence-reduction program
with roots in the historic peace churches. Teams of trained peace workers
live in areas of lethal conflict around the world. CPT has been present
in Iraq since October, 2002. To learn more about CPT, please visit
http://www.cpt.org.
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