BAGHDAD: Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki called yesterday for joint Sunni-Shiite prayers after a spate of attacks on places of worship, saying the attackers wanted to ignite sectarian strife in Iraq.
“I call for holding joint prayers... in one of the large Baghdad mosques” each Friday, Maliki said. “Those who target mosques are enemies of Sunnis and Shiites alike, and are planning to ignite (sectarian) strife,” he said.
Bombs near the Saria Sunni mosque in Baquba, north of Baghdad, killed 41 people on Friday, a day after a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged belt at the entrance of a Shiite place of worship in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing 12 people.
Tensions are festering between the government of Maliki, a Shiite, and Iraqi Sunnis.
Iraqi PM calls for joint prayers after attacks
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