JEDDAH, 1 September 2003 — Saudi Arabia said yesterday there was no proof that any of its citizens was involved in the Najaf car bomb blasts, challenging those who made such claims to come up with the evidence.
“Some sources in Iraq have claimed that Saudi citizens were involved in the terrorist attack which killed prominent Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer Al-Hakim,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
“These sources did not provide any proof for their claims. The government of Saudi Arabia hopes these sources will reveal the information they have and pass it on to the government of the Kingdom instead of making unsubstantiated allegations,” he added.
In Najaf, Iraqi police were yesterday questioning 19 suspects over the car bomb massacre in Najaf that killed 125 people, as tens of thousands turned out in Baghdad and Karbala for funeral marches.
Iraqi police also detained a man on the Saudi border in connection with the Najaf massacre. Poison was found in the man’s pockets, said an officer who requested anonymity. Four suspects were already in detention Saturday in connection with the Najaf bombing.
US troops meanwhile moved into a district of the northern city of Mosul in force amid reports that Saddam Hussein might be hiding there.
And Najaf, where Hakim died Friday when two cars exploded outside the Imam Ali Mosque complex, was hit by fresh violence.
Friday’s bombing in Najaf, along with deadly attacks on the UN headquarters and the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad, have fueled fears that Iraq is spinning out of control five months into the US-led occupation.
It has also further angered many in Iraq’s Shiite community, who make up about 60 percent of the population but who were systematically oppressed by Saddam’s Sunni elite.
They partly blame US-led coalition forces for the Najaf massacre for failing to provide adequate security.
Many mourners in Baghdad shouted for vengeance, and some brandished black pistols and Kalashnikov rifles, yelling “Revenge, revenge” and vowing to take matters into their own hands, no longer prepared to wait for the Americans to restore order in the country.
Hakim’s private militia, the Badr Brigades, reasserted their presence at the Baghdad funeral march for their slain leader, who said he had disbanded the group upon his return to Iraq in May after 23 years of exile in Iran.
The remains of the ayatollah arrived yesterday evening in Karbala, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, where tens of thousands more turned out to pay their last respects before his burial in Najaf today.
— Additional input from agencies.
