Council member raps U.S. presence

A car bomb exploded today in central Baghdad.
NAJAF, Iraq (AP) -- A member of the U.S.-picked governing council angrily denounced the American occupation in a eulogy for his slain brother before 400,000 Shiite mourners today, demanding that U.S. troops leave Iraq and blaming them for lax security that led to the revered cleric's assassination.
Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim spoke in the holy city of Najaf at the funeral of his brother, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, as men clad in white robes and dark uniforms brandishing Kalashnikov rifles stood guard every 16 feet along the roof of Najaf's gold-domed Imam Ali mosque.
Black mourning banners were draped across the shrine, which became Friday the site of Iraq's bloodiest attack since the fall of Saddam Hussein, killing the moderate cleric. There are varying accounts of how many other people died, ranging from more than 80 to more than 120.
"The occupation force is primarily responsible for the pure blood that was spilled in holy Najaf, the blood of al-Hakim and the faithful group that was present near the mosque," Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim said in his eulogy.
"This force is primarily responsible for all this blood and the blood that is shed all over Iraq every day," he said.
"Iraq must not remain occupied and the occupation must leave so that we can build Iraq as God wants us to do," he said.
Symbolic coffin
Unable to recover al-Hakim's body after the blast, the family buried a coffin containing his watch, his pen and wedding ring in the 1920 Revolution Square, a cemetery set aside for martyrs in the Shiite uprising against British occupation. Al-Hakim's 15 bodyguards, who died with him in the car bombing, were buried in neighboring plots.
Mourners scooped up sand from the ground in the cemetery to take home as a souvenir.
Earlier, the ayatollah's son warned that the country had entered a dangerous new era.
"Our injured Iraq is facing great and dangerous challenges in which one requires strength," Mohammed Hussein Mohammed Saeed Al-Hakim said as the funeral procession made one of its final stops before Najaf in the town of Hilla.
Earlier, police on loudspeakers implored the crowds jammed shoulder-to-shoulder in the streets surrounding the shrine to allow the truck carrying the ceremonial coffin to pass. Despite their efforts, the truck was unable to make it to the entrance of the mosque in Najaf, 110 miles south of Baghdad.
Police stood with their guns ready as pumps sprayed water on the mourners after some fainted from the heat.
Another blast
As the funeral was about to begin, another car bomb exploded in central Baghdad outside police headquarters, wounding an unknown number of bystanders. Huge plumes of black smoke rose above the blast scene, where debris lay scattered around the headquarters. There were no fatalities.
Acting police chief Hassan al-Obeidi has offices in the headquarters building and is closely associated with the U.S.-led occupation authority.
Early this morning, a Black Hawk helicopter crashed south of Baghdad, killing one U.S. soldier and injuring another in a "nonhostile" episode, said a U.S. military spokesman, Spc. Anthony Reinoso.
On Monday, two U.S. soldiers were killed and another wounded when a bomb went off beside their convoy in southern Iraq, the military said.
The deaths raised to 286 the number of American forces killed in the Iraq war. Of those, 148 died since May 1 when President Bush declared an end to major fighting. Seventy soldiers have died in combat since Bush's declaration.
Denies bombing
The spiritual leader of the Al-Qaida-linked Ansar al-Islam terrorist group, Mullah Krekar, denied that his organization played any role in the Najaf bombing, or the attacks on the Jordanian Embassy on Aug. 7 and the U.N. headquarters Aug. 19.
"I consider it very unlikely that members of Ansar al-Islam committed such big and grave acts," Krekar said in a statement broadcast on the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV station, adding that his group's Islamic convictions prevent them from striking such targets.
The CIA said Monday that it was examining an audio tape purportedly from Saddam denying he was behind the Najaf bombing. Al-Hakim was a longtime opponent of Saddam who returned from exile after the U.S. invasion.
Al-Hakim spent more than two decades in exile in Iran, returning only in May.
The tape appeared to have little effect on the anger Shiites feel against Saddam and his Baath Party. Mourners beat their chests outside the shrine, demanding vengeance, and a new banner hanging at the entrance of Najaf declared: "Killing Baathists is a national and religious obligation."
Some Iraqi police leading the investigation of the bombing have said they believe Al-Qaida-linked Islamic militants were behind the attack -- not Saddam loyalists.