Police arrest 19 linked to Al-Qaida

The shrine bombing killed a revered Muslim cleric.
NAJAF, Iraq (AP) -- Police have arrested 19 men -- many of them foreigners and all with admitted links to Al-Qaida -- in the car bombing of the Imam Ali shrine in the holy Shiite city of Najaf, a senior Iraqi investigator told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Two Iraqis and two Saudis grabbed shortly after the Friday attack gave information leading to the arrest of the others, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. They include two Kuwaitis and six Palestinians with Jordanian passports with the remainder Iraqis and Saudis, the official said, without giving a breakdown.
Entered from Kuwait
Initial information shows the foreigners entered Iraq from Kuwait, Syria and Jordan, the official said, adding that they belong to the Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam.
"They are all connected to Al-Qaida," the official said.
Wahhabism is the strict, fundamentalist branch of Sunni Islam from which Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden draws spiritual direction. Based in Saudi Arabia, its followers show little tolerance for non-Wahhabi Sunnis and Shiites.
Police pointed to similarities between the mosque bombing and two recent attacks.
The bomb at the Imam Ali shrine -- the burial place of the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad -- was made from the same type of materials used in the Aug. 19 truck bombing at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, which killed 23 people, and the Jordanian Embassy vehicle bombing Aug. 7, which killed 19, the Iraqi official said.
U.S. officials have not confirmed any details of the arrests, which would substantiate Bush administration claims that bin Laden's followers have taken their Islamic militant war against the West to Iraq, where U.S. forces are struggling to maintain security.
American authorities have not taken an active public role in the mosque investigation because of Iraqi sensitivity to any U.S. presence at the Najaf shrine, the most-sacred Shiite shrine in Iraq and the third holiest in the world after Mecca and Medina.
85 deaths
Hospital officials said 85 people died in the shrine bombing, including leading Shiite Muslim cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim. Earlier tolls were reduced after some deaths were found to have been reported twice.
Thousands of angry mourners gathered outside the damaged Imam Ali shrine Saturday, calling for vengeance in the killing of al-Hakim, a cherished Shiite leader and Saddam Hussein opponent who only in May had returned from exile in Iran.
While backing the formation of an Islamic state in Iraq, al-Hakim had also urged unity among hostile Shiite factions and tolerance of the American-led coalition.
"Our leader al-Hakim is gone. We want the blood of the killers of al-Hakim," a crowd of 4,000 men chanted, beating their chests.
Tens of thousands of worshippers filled the shrine and the surrounding streets of Najaf, 110 miles southwest of Baghdad, for a funeral service for victims. Residents carried coffins on the tops of cars and backs of trucks.
There was to be a service for al-Hakim in Baghdad early today; his remains were to be buried Tuesday in Najaf, his birthplace and seat of the powerful al-Hakim family. Authorities said they have only found al-Hakim's hand, watch, wedding band and a pen.
Cleric's response
In response to the bombing, a highly respected Shiite cleric suspended his membership in the U.S.-chosen Iraqi interim Governing Council, citing a lack of security.
Mohammed Bahr al-Uloum, in exile in London until Saddam's ouster, said Saturday that his return to the council depended on the U.S.-led coalition's handing security matters to Iraqis, so that Muslim shrines could be under Islamic protection.
"This act has pushed me to postpone my membership in the governing council because it can't do anything concerning the security situation," he said.
The men arrested said the recent bombings were designed to "keep Iraq in a state of chaos so that police and American forces are unable to focus" on the country's porous borders, which foreign fighters are said to be crossing, the Iraqi official said.
The Najaf police official, who led the initial investigation and interrogation of the captives, said the prisoners described plots to assassinate political and religious leaders and to damage vital installations such as power plants, water supplies and oil pipelines.
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