TUZ KHURMATU, Iraq, 17 September 2005 — A suicide car bomber killed 11 Shiite worshippers and wounded 24 as they left a central Iraqi mosque yesterday, the latest attack in a three-day surge of violence targeting the majority community. The bloodshed followed a call on Wednesday by Al-Qaeda’s front man in Iraq, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, for “total war” against Shiites, a threat which religious leaders from both communities warned could spark a sectarian war.

Zarqawi’s extremist Sunni group has claimed responsibility for a wave of bombings in Baghdad, including one Wednesday that killed some 112 Shiite day laborers as they waited for work. Nationwide, the death toll hit nearly 150 Wednesday, at least 23 on Thursday and over 20 yesterday.

In Tuz Khurmatu, a mixed community some 170 kilometers north of Baghdad, police said a car bomber blew himself up outside the Al-Rasul Al-Aadham mosque as worshipers emerged from midday prayers. They said they had arrested another man about to carry out an attack nearby. “We arrested a Saudi who was wearing a belt of explosives,” said Lt. Col. Hussein Ali Rashid.

Gunmen killed two more Shiite laborers and wounded 15 in a drive-by shooting early yesterday, gunning down a transport ministry employee as they made their getaway. A Shiite imam, Sheikh Fadel Alami, was also shot dead in his car in the same neighborhood, a security official said.

Iraq’s main Sunni Arab religious authority, the Committee of Muslim Scholars, condemned the call for total war against the majority Shiite community whose representatives now control the government. “What Zarqawi said is very dangerous and plays into the hands of the occupier who wants to split up the country and spark a sectarian war,” the committee said.

While renewing its calls for dialogue with the rebels, it urged the Jordanian-born Zarqawi to retract his statement. “From a religious point of view, you must renounce your threat because it abuses the image of jihad (holy war),” the statement said. Zarqawi, who has a $25-million US bounty on his head, also urged Sunni Arabs to “wake up from your slumber,” warning that otherwise “the war to exterminate Sunnis will never end.”

The Committee of Scholars said “Iraq’s Shiites are not responsible for the government’s sectarian policy. “And they are not responsible for the Tal Afar operation,” it added, referring to an ongoing US-Iraqi offensive against the northwestern town that had been under rebel control for the past few months. In the Shiite holy city of Kerbala, Iman Sheikh Abdel Mehdi Al-Karbalai called on the government to take action to protect the community. “Blood continues to flow, especially the blood of Shiites,” he said. “This is becoming unbearable. The situation could become uncontrollable,” he warned.

In other violence, a suicide car bomber killed three policemen near Haswa, just outside Baghdad, police said, while a local mayor and four of his bodyguards were killed overnight in nearby Iskandariyah. Another Baghdad bombing killed two interior ministry troops.

Speaking at the United Nations on Thursday, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said his country was “not hesitant to openly and frankly say we are in desperate need of ... your support for its efforts to fight terrorism. Today, Iraq is facing one of the most brutal campaigns of terror at the hands of the forces of darkness.” US-led forces said nine suspected rebels were killed in an airstrike Thursday night on a “terrorist safe house and weapons cache” in the western Al-Anbar province town of Karabilah.

Syria strongly condemned the Baghdad suicide bombings and said it was ready to do “whatever it takes” to cooperate with US and Iraqi authorities in bringing security and stability to its eastern neighbor.