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Article: Shi'ite Shrine Attack Raises Tension.
- Article from:
- APS Diplomat Fate of the Arabian Peninsula
- Article date:
- June 18, 2007
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A bomb attack on June 13 destroyed the two minarets of the Askariya shrine in Samarra' and was seen as an attempt to rekindle Sunni-Shi'ite violence, which has declined in recent months. It threatened to dash hopes that a deployment of US forces could permanently interrupt the 15-month cycle of violence sparked by the first attack on the Askariya shrine on Feb. 22, 2006. PM Maliki, blaming Neo-Salafis and "Saddamists" for the bombing, imposed an indefinite curfew in Baghdad and Samarra' and deployed extra troops in a bid to prevent Shi'ite militias from fanning out across the city to attack Sunni targets, as they did in 2006.
The shrine's dome was demolished in ...