Web JafariyaNews

Funerals held in holy cities as scores of suspects detained

By: Ismail Zabeeh

HOLY NAJAF, Iraq: Thousands of weeping mourners attended funerals of some of Holy Najaf and Holy Karbala martyrs on Monday and besides banning cars from entering the Najaf city center to prevent future car bombings, Iraqi authorities detained 50 suspects in connection with the holy city of Najaf blast that left at least 54 people martyred and wounded 142 and US forces have set up check posts in Holy Najaf.

On Sunday, car bombs tore through a Najaf funeral procession and a main bus station in the nearby city of Karbala, where at least 16 people were martyred and over 50 were injured.

Authorities in Holy Najaf banned cars from entering the downtown area that houses the Imam Ali (p) shrine to prevent future bombings, Governor Adnan Az-Zurufi said Monday.

He said: “Fifty people, some of them from Najaf and others from outside, have been detained. One person detained this morning is a citizen of an Arab country. They are all being interrogated.”

Najaf's police chief said that among them were people with links to the two neighboring countries.

“The police arrested some elements who confessed that they have links with the Syrian intelligence ... and a person who confessed he had links with Iranian intelligence since 1995,” Al-Jazaari said.

Asked if Sunday's attack had targeted Ayatullah Ali As-Sistani, who lives several hundred yards from the site of the blast, Az-Zurufi said, “We have had information for a long time that his eminence Ayatullah As--Sistani is a possible target but we are taking all measures to protect him.”

Meanwhile, operations of getting dead bodies out of rubble in Holy Najaf were continued on Monday and toll was rising.

END