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The '''2006 al-Askari Shrine bombing''' occurred on 22 February 2006 at approximately 6:44 a.m. [[UTC+03:00|local Iraqi time]], and targeted the [[al-Askari Shrine]] in the city of [[Samarra]], [[Iraq]]. The attack on the mosque, one of the holiest sites in [[Shia Islam]], has not been claimed by any group; the then [[President of the United States]], [[George W. Bush]], suggested from "evidence" that the bombing was an [[Al-Qaeda in Iraq|al-Qaeda]] plot. Although the mosque was severely damaged from the blast, there were no casualties.
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Abu Qudama confessed to taking part in the attack on al-Askari mosque in Samarra and gave a detailed account of how the attack took place. Al-Rubaie said Iraqi security forces had yet to capture the mastermind of the mosque attack, [[Haitham al-Badri]], an Iraqi and leader of one of Al Qaeda in Iraq's cells, who was later killed in an airstrike on August 2, 2007. Al-Rubaie said al-Badri, Abu Qudama, four Saudi nationals and two other Iraqis stormed the mosque Feb. 21, rounded up the shrine's guards, members of Iraq's Facility Protection Service, and bound their hands. The group then spent the rest of the night rigging the mosque with bombs. At dawn the next day, they detonated the explosives, bringing down the dome.<ref name="tribune">{{cite news|url=http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/world/14924090.htm|title=Suspect in bombing of Shiite shrine is captured|author=Alex Rodriguez|work=Chicago Tribune|date=June 28, 2006|access-date=3 September 2006 }} {{dead link|date=February 2011}}</ref>
In an August 2006 press conference [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[George W. Bush]] stated "it's pretty clear – at least the evidence indicates – that the bombing of the shrine was an Al Qaida plot, all intending to create sectarian violence."<ref name="pressconf">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/21/AR2006082100469.html?nav=rss_politics |title=President Bush Holds a News Conference: CQ Transcripts Wire |date=August 21, 2006 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=April 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020213009/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/21/AR2006082100469.html?nav=rss_politics |archive-date=October 20, 2012 |url-status=live |df=mdy }}</ref> In May 2007, also 'Iraqi officials' blamed Al Qaeda of the attack.<ref name="Insurgents">{{cite news|title=Al Qaeda leader in Iraq 'killed by insurgents'|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-05-01/al-qaeda-leader-in-iraq-killed-by-insurgents/2537000|work=ABC News|date=1 May 2007|access-date=5 December 2014|archive-date=15 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180915152428/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-05-01/al-qaeda-leader-in-iraq-killed-by-insurgents/2537000|url-status=live}}</ref> Before his death, [[Abu Musab al-Zarqawi]] listed among his goals the incitement of a civil war between Iraq's Shiites and Sunnis.<ref name="letter">{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/02/10/sprj.nirq.zarqawi/|title=Letter may detail Iraqi insurgency's concerns|
In September 2006, Iraqi officials announced the capture of [[Hamid Juma Faris Jouri al-Saeedi]] in connection with the bombing, allegedly done on his orders by Haitham al-Badri.<ref name="oppel">Oppel, Richard A. Jr. (September 3, 2006). Senior Al Qaeda Figure in Iraq Is Captured. ''[[The New York Times]]''</ref> Al-Badri was killed in August 2007.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en.html |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=www.thomsonreuters.com |language=en |archive-date=2 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200402124725/https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
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===United States and Israel===
* [[President of Iran|Iranian President]] [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]] blamed the United States and [[Israel]] for the attack. He claimed that "these heinous acts are committed by a group of [[Zionist]]s and occupiers that have failed." He warned, amid a crowd of protesters, that the United States would "not be saved from the wrath and power of the justice-seeking nations" by resorting to bombings like the one that occurred at Al Askari Mosque.<ref>{{cite news|date=February 23, 2006 |title=Iran president warns West over Iraq shrine blast |publisher=Reuters |url=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23295106.htm |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5wfdPn2sY?url=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23295106.htm |archive-date=February 21, 2011 |url-status=live |df=mdy }}</ref>
* According to Alertnet, [[Hezbollah]] leader [[Hassan Nasrallah|Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah]], speaking from the [[Lebanon|Lebanese]] capital, [[Beirut]], echoed the opinions of [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]] and accused the United States of attacking the shrine to cause tension between the Sunnis and Shi'ites in the Middle East.<ref name="alertnet1">{{cite web
==Post-bombing violence against Sunnis==
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[[Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani]] sent instructions to his followers forbidding attacks on Sunni mosques, especially the major ones in Baghdad, and calling for seven days of mourning.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/Iraq/Story/0,,1715211,00.html |date=February 23, 2006 |title=Shia shrine blasts spark reprisal attacks |work=The Guardian |location=London |first=Mark |last=Oliver |access-date=April 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105212828/http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1715211,00.html |archive-date=November 5, 2007 |url-status=live |df=mdy }}</ref> He hinted that religious militias could be given a bigger security role if the government was incapable of protecting holy shrines. On February 25<ref name="jamaica-gleaner1">[http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060226/int/int2.html Jamaica Gleaner News – Sunni and Shi'ite clerics reach deal to ease tension – Sunday | February 26, 2006] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713074702/http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060226/int/int2.html |date=13 July 2011 }}</ref> Sistani called for Iraq's powerful tribes to be deployed to protect the country's holy places after three attacks on Shia shrines in four days: "Ayatollah Sistani, who received a tribal delegation from Kufa, asked that the Iraqi tribes reclaim their role of protecting the shrines," said an official in Sistani's office in the Shia clerical center of Najaf. ... After the crimes against the places of worship, including the blowing up of the mausoleum in Samarra and the attacks against the tombs of [[Salman the Persian]] and Imam Ali bin Mussa al-Rida, the tribes must take a stand and claim a role in the protection of these sites."
Shiite cleric [[Muqtada al-Sadr]] condemned the attack and called for calm.<ref>{{cite
On February 25<ref name="jamaica-gleaner1"/> Sunni and Shiite clerics agreed to prohibit killing members of the two sects and banning attacks on each other's mosques in an effort to ease tension between Iraq's Muslim communities following sectarian violence after the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine. The agreement was made during a meeting between representatives of Sadr and Shiite cleric Jawad al-Khalisi and members of the influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars at the Abu Hanifa Mosque, a Sunni place of worship.
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==References==
{{Campaignbox Iraq War terrorism}}▼
{{Portal|Iraq}}▼
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4738874.stm In pictures: Iraq shrine bombing]
▲{{Campaignbox Iraq War terrorism}}
▲{{Portal|Iraq}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Al-Askari Mosque Bombing}}
[[Category:Al-Qaeda activities in Iraq]]
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