August 26, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-us-Sani 27, 1424

NAJAF, Aug 25: Thousands gathered here on Monday at the mausoleum of Hazrat Ali for the funerals of three men killed a day earlier in an assassination attempt on one of Iraq’s top Shia leaders.

“This criminal act was carried out by members of the old regime, by ignorant, misguided people who do not want this city to enjoy security,” said Ammar Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the son of Grand Ayatollah Seyed Mohammed Said al-Hakim, who was the target in Sunday’S attack.

“We declare that the coalition forces are entirely responsible for what has happened because they are using tanks to try to bring peace,” he said in a funeral oration at the mausoleum.

Two of the three men killed were bodyguards of the ayatollah, and the third was a religious leader.

The three men died when unknown attackers blew up a gas cylinder outside Ayatollah Hakim’s house in this holy city, 180 kilometres south of Baghdad.

“Death to those who committed this act,” said a large banner held up by mourners, who waved the black and green flags of Islam and carried portraits of Ayatollah Hakim.

The three coffins were placed outside the mausoleum of Hazrat Ali before being carried back to the house where they were killed for a prayer service and then to the city’s cemetery for burial.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, on Monday condemned the assassination attempt as a plot against Islam and Shias.

“Such criminal acts risk giving a pretext to the occupying forces to impose their suppressive policies on the defenseless people of Iraq and will lead to insecurity in the war-torn country at a time when the Iraqi people are in dire need of unity and solidarity,” IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.—AFP