日韩午夜精品视频,欧美私密网站,国产一区二区三区四区,国产主播一区二区三区四区

Home / Us and Iraq:Conflicts of Interest / News Update Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read
More Hostages Released on Baghdad Street
Adjust font size:

Four more people seized last weekend at a sports conference have been found blindfolded and dumped unharmed in an east Baghdad neighborhood, officials said Thursday. There was no word on the fate of Iraq's Olympic committee chairman.

Iraq's top Shiite cleric, meanwhile, called on Iraqis to work together to halt sectarian violence, warning that the future of the nation is at stake.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said in a statement that Iraqis had avoided all-out civil war despite attacks on civilians because they belonged to "a certain sect," meaning Shiites.

But he said the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra had triggered the "blind violence we are seeing in the country today."

Also Thursday, the government announced that the state agency that cares for Shiite mosques was suspending work for five days in solidarity with their Sunni counterparts, who began a week-long walkout the day before to protest the kidnappings of 20 of their employees.

The four former kidnap victims were found late Wednesday and included the director of public relations for the National Olympic Committee, Youssif Khoshaba, officials said. Six others were found in the same neighborhood Sunday, one day after at least 30 people were seized by armed men wearing police uniforms.

Among those still missing is National Olympic Committee chairman Ahmed al-Hijiya.

A wave of kidnappings and killings have alarmed many Iraqis and further sharpened tensions between Shiites and Sunnis.

Iraqis blame much of the violence on extremists in the two communities who target members of the other sect in tit-for-tat attacks that have pushed the country to the brink of civil war.

In a gesture of solidarity, the government said the Shiite Endowment stopped working Thursday for five days and denounced the kidnapping of the employees of the Sunni Endowment. The head of the Sunni agency, Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samaraie, blamed "militias in official uniforms" for seizing the workers.

Al-Sistani warned that if the violence continues, it "will harm the unity of the people and hinder their hopes of liberation and independence for a long time."

"I call on all those who are keen for the unity and future of this country, religious and political leaders, tribal chiefs and others, to exert maximum efforts to stop the bloodletting," al-Sistani said.

(Chinadaily.com via agencies July 21, 2006)

Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read

Related Stories
?
SiteMap | About Us | RSS | Newsletter | Feedback
SEARCH THIS SITE
Copyright ? China.org.cn. All Rights Reserved ????E-mail: webmaster@china.org.cn Tel: 86-10-88828000 京ICP證 040089號(hào)
主站蜘蛛池模板: 临桂县| 平凉市| 垣曲县| 平南县| 平和县| 华亭县| 阿拉善左旗| 吴川市| 察隅县| 兴和县| 信阳市| 南昌县| 康保县| 霍州市| 观塘区| 丰顺县| 且末县| 莲花县| 理塘县| 吕梁市| 炎陵县| 高阳县| 呼玛县| 万山特区| 奉贤区| 宜兰市| 海兴县| 肥乡县| 隆尧县| 棋牌| 安宁市| 宁夏| 务川| 叶城县| 武鸣县| 朝阳市| 绵竹市| 土默特右旗| 甘泉县| 衢州市| 麻江县|