Cleric Orders Some Iraqi Mosques Closed

11 May 2006

In a bid to stop sectarian violence, Iraq’s top Shiite cleric ordered all Shiite mosques to close for three days in a town in southern Iraq where a local Sunni Arab leader was assassinated. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued the edict for mosques in Zubayr, where gunmen killed Sunni imam Sheik Khaled Ali Obeid al-Saadoun and two of his associates Wednesday as they left a mosque after evening prayers. Al-Saadoun also had served as the local leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni Arab political group. Full Story

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