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Iraqis look at a huge hole in a Falluja mosque reportedly caused by a U.S. missile or
bomb
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FALLUJAH,
Iraq, July 1 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Angry residents in
Fallujah vowed revenge Tuesday, July 1, after ten people were reportedly
killed in the main mosque which, witnesses said, was pounded by an
American helicopter gunship late Monday, June 30.
According
to the American Fox News channel and the Associated Press (AP), the
death toll of the blast of Al-Hassan mosque, which was earlier put at
eight, mounted to ten people.
Eyewitnesses
told Al-Jazeera channel they saw a
U.S.
helicopter gunship firing a missile at the mosque, where a number of
worshippers were listening to a religious lesson.
"This
mosque is where the resistance will effectively start," shouted a
man, as other men around him cheered.
Sheikh
Ahmad al-Janabi, a scholar at the mosque, told Agence France-Presse
(AFP) that "targeting the mosque is a provocation to all
Muslims."
"If
their (Muslims') mosques are threatened, what would they do? What do the
Americans expect from us? Simply retaliation," the sheikh told AFP.
Witnesses
said a ball of fire ripped through the mosque, destroying two rooms and
gouging a hole in its dome, leaving several people wounded including the
Imam, Sheikh Laith, whose leg was amputated.
Many
residents gathered at the mosque early Tuesday to survey the damage and
many expressed anger at the sight.
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The mosque Imam Sheikh Laith was wounded in the U.S. raid
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A
U.S.
military official told AFP that he could not confirm what caused the
explosions, adding, "We are waiting for further information."
The
official
U.S.
explanation for the blast strongly denied any involvement, suggesting in
a statement that "the explosion was apparently related to a
bomb-manufacturing class that was being taught inside the mosque."
U.S.
troops took to the streets to persuade angry residents they had no
involvement in the explosion.
"We
are not going to attack a mosque," Sergeant Jason McCain insisted,
addressing a crowd of jeering residents demanding explanations.
"Unless
someone is shooting at us, we are never going to shoot at a
mosque."
The
flashpoint town had woken up to news of another rocket-propelled grenade
(RPG) attack on the main
U.S.
military base located at the government office at
3:50 am
(2350 GMT Monday), residents told AFP.
There
was no word on casualties or damage from the attack, which they said
prompted
U.S.
troops to return fire and comb areas around the base.
Two
cars passing near the area were stopped by the troops who detained their
passengers, including an eight-year-old boy, witnesses said.
U.S.
forces have imposed an overnight curfew on Fallujah, but residents are
challenging the order.
U.S.
forces have recently stepped up their presence in the conservative Sunni
Muslim town known as the "City of
Mosques
" which is located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of
Baghdad
, carrying out intensive searches across broad swathes of the region.
On
Tuesday, June 24, American occupation forces came under fresh grenade
attack in Fallujah, which is simmering with rage three months into the
U.S.
military occupation of
Iraq
.
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A photo of the imam’s leg after it was amputated.jpg
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An
attacker had fired a rocket-propelled grenade at an American military
convoy Thursday, June 5, killing one
U.S.
soldier and wounding five.
But
residents here did not feel regretful, as they still remember when 19
innocent civilians were gunned down by the
U.S.
forces during a demonstration for an end of occupation last April. Since
then, many vowed revenge.
n
many ways, the city has become emblematic of the complex tangle of
problems facing the U.S.-led occupation.
American
patrols come under regular fire from Iraqis armed with weapons available
since Saddam Hussein was toppled under promises of a better life in the
horizon.
This
in turn has left the American soldiers edgy and much less friendly with
the Iraqis.
While
the
U.S.
forces say they want to let Iraqis run their own affairs as soon as
possible, they have poured more than 1,000 extra troops in and around
the city in the past few days to try to curb anti-occupation attacks.
