While Iraqis begin three days of mourning following the deadliest day since Saddam Hussein’s ouster, US and Iraqi authorities are hunting for those responsible for the carnage. The attacks in Baghdad and Karbala Tuesday were aimed at crowds of Shiite Muslims on their holiest day of the year, Ashoura, and killed at least 117, according to US estimates. Iraqi officials say 271 people were killed. Hundreds more were injured. The Christian Science Monitor reports that “the violence dealt a further blow to efforts to restore stability to a country that is becoming increasingly divided along sectarian and ethnic lines.” The Associated Press reports that Iraqi police and US troops have detained 15 people in connection with the attacks. But US military authorities are fingering Al Qaeda, focusing much of their attention on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant believed to be based in Iraq. The deputy director for coalition military operations in Iraq, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, said Mr. Zarqawi is a “prime suspect in every one of those attacks that we’ve seen.” Full Story
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