Topic: Threat of suicide bombers closes Shiite shrine in holy city of Najaf

Media: The Associated Press
Byline:
Date: 26 October 2006


BAGHDAD, Iraq_Security officials closed a major Shiite Muslim shrine in
Najaf on Thursday after receiving a tip that suicide bombers wearing
explosives belts had infiltrated the holy city.

The officials, who refused to be named because they were not authorized to
speak to reporters, said the Shiite's holiest shrine, the Imam Ali mosque,
was sealed to visitors out of a fear that it could be targeted as part of
the Sunni Muslim insurgency's bid to foment civil war.

Witnesses in the city said vehicles were blocked from the old city center.

A February bombing of the Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad, has
been credited with setting off the current wave of sectarian killings in the
country, after Shiite militias began a campaign of revenge attacks against
Sunni Muslims.