BAGHDAD: As sectarian killings rise in Iraq, calls by Iraq's leading Shia cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to avoid a cycle of revenge may start being ignored even by those who revere him.
Two of Sistani's aides were killed on Wednesday in the latest attacks apparently aimed at stoking sectarian strife. Few are predicting full-scale civil war just yet.
But a lack of security, a rise in extremism, and post-war poverty are putting pressure on a harmony between sects that has prevailed in Iraq for centuries. The violence is also testing the patience of Shia militants who have already suffered persecution under Sunni-dominated governments.
Followers of Sistani, Iraq's highest Shia authority, say they will keep heeding his calls not to take revenge on Arab Sunnis, including militant Islamists who officials say are involved in the killings.
Some of these Islamists regard Shias as heretics. They re-emerged during the last years of Saddam's rule with his backing to some extent, and are regarded as part of the anti- US insurgency, along with Baathists who want power back.
Sistani's confidante Hamed al-Khafaf was careful on Thursday not to blame anyone for attacks targeting aides of the elderly cleric. Cleric Mahmoud al-Madaen was killed in Salman Pak, south of Baghdad, along with his son and four guards after finishing prayers on Wednesday.
Halim al-Mohaqeq, who worked in Sistani's office in the holy city of Najaf was also found dead. "Sheikh Halim was found drowned in his own blood. Investigations are under way and nothing can be said until they are concluded," Khafaf said.
CALLS FOR CALM: Iraqi officials have accused the Sunni militants of trying to provoke a civil war by killing prominent Shias. Sistani has appealed for restraint, saying acts of revenge would destroy the country.
"Do you think that Shia forces cannot storm into southern Baghdad and secure these areas? But we don't want to hand our enemies the civil war they want," a Shia official in the government said.
Mohsen al-Hakim, a senior Shia official in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said most Iraqis, including Sunnis, were against extremism. "Sistani's wishes will be respected. But the security forces have to be re-organized. They were randomly grouped and include criminals from the old regime," he said.
Ahmad Chalabi, one of a few Iraqi politicians with access to the reclusive cleric, said Sistani understood security was lacking. He has called for better forces, but also told Chalabi that Shias must not resort to violence even if entire Shia towns are annihilated.
Hundreds of Shias and Sunnis, many of whom worked with Saddam, have been killed in mixed areas since the war. Mafia style killings are common in the Dora suburb of Baghdad. Some clerics have stopped wearing turbans so as not be recognized.
Scores of Kurds have been also killed and many others have fled to the Kurdish north. Even Sistani's enemies say he could be the only barrier between Iraq and civil war.
His insistence on elections certain to cement Shia political power has angered many. Large numbers of Sunnis want the elections postponed because of the US role and violence in Iraq's Sunni heartland. -Reuters
