CAIRO, March 2 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Blasts in Iraq that claimed the lives of over a hundred and wounded other hundreds drew fiery condemnations Tuesday, March 2, with leading Shiites inside and outside Iraq blaming the occupation forces and the Iraqi Governing Council putting the blame on “foreign terrorists”.

Commenting on the bloody incidents, Kazimyah mosque Imam - Shiite - implicitly put the blame on U.S. occupation forces.

“What we saw of tragic events today is the result of the provocative and unnecessary presence of the occupation forces in the areas of holy shrines during such an important religious festival,” Jawwad El-Khalisy told Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel from Baghdad.

“During other major religious gatherings, we (Shiites) asked the occupation forces not to interfere and to back off. People handled security and no incidents happened. Ashura is celebrated by both Sunnis and Shiites, it’s a Muslim occasion.

Khalisy was apparently referring to the funeral of leading Shiite scholar Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer Al-Hakim who was killed in a deadly car bombing Friday, August 29, 2003.

“Trying to portray such cowardly attacks as sectarian violence in Iraq will not pay as the Iraqi people are smarter than falling victims for such vicious schemes,” the Shiite imam added.

In Lebanon, Shiite leading authority Mohamed Hussein Fadlallah was more open in his condemnation and warned against what he called was “an American project to fuel great sectarian division” in Iraq.

In his reaction to blasts that targeted Shiite holy shrines in Karbala and Baghdad, Fadlallah said, “The U.S. is working on stirring great sectarian division (among Iraqi Sunni and Shiite Muslims) to pave the way for a long-term occupation there),” according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

In his speech marking Ashura day, Fadlallah - speaking before thousands of Shiite Muslims - warned that the perpetrator behind such sectarian violence - that targeted Sunni mosques and figures as well - is one and the goal is clear.

The highly-respected Fadlallah urged Iraqi Sunni and Shiite scholars to “work on containing such plots and upsetting their targets,” stressing the necessity of “working to protect the Islamic unity at any cost”.

Back to Iraq, a member of Sunni Muslim Scholars Authority, Mohamed Bishr Feid, also grilled the occupation forces for lack of security almost a year after they took over Iraq.

“Iraq has been witnessing this non-stop chain of violent blasts and chaos. Of course, it is the responsibility of the U.S.-led occupation forces to provide security and safety for all,” Feid told Al-Jazeera.

Also in Iraq, a Karbala hotel owner Aziz Aziz Mazhat, who said he saw at least 20 bodies lying in the street below, raged against U.S. President George W. Bush, AFP reported.

Other Iraqis, speaking to Al-Jazeera correspondents, grilled both the U.S. occupation forces and the Governing Council for failure to provide security for the embattled people of Iraq.

Meanwhile, another Shiite figure, spokesperson of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, Hamid El-Bayyati, on the other hand, put the blame on what he called “Al-Qaeda’s man in Iraq, Mosa’ab Zarqawi”.

Zarqawi is accused by Washington of being behind an alleged plot to fuel sectarian violence in Iraq.

A member of Hand-picked Governing Council member, Nassir Chaderji, also put the blame on what he termed “foreign terrorists” for carrying out the bloody anti-Shiite attacks in Karbala and Baghdad.

Worldwide, world capitals were quick to condemn the tragic attacks, with Jordan warning of religious discord and Britain saying the blasts were “no coincidence”.

Germany, France and Pakistan - itself a scene of an anti-Shiite attack that took 12 lives - condemned the Iraq explosions.

In Islamabad, Pakistani Foreign Office condemned the attacks as acts of "sacrilege".