Iraq mosques attacked, curfew enforced

BAGHDAD, June 14 (Reuters) Three Sunni Muslim mosques were attacked and burned south of Baghdad today, Iraqi police said, in apparent reprisal attacks after suspected al Qaeda militants blew up the minarets of a revered Shi'ite shrine.

Thousands of Iraqi and US soldiers were on the streets of Baghdad and other cities enforcing curfews imposed after yesterday's bombing at Samarra's al-Askari mosque toppled its two golden minarets.

Several mortar rounds landed inside and near Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, home to Iraq's parliament and the U.S.

embassy. Reuters reporters saw several sources of smoke billowing into the sky but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

An attack on the same Samarra mosque in February 2006 unleashed waves of sectarian violence in which tens of thousands of people were killed, tipping Iraq close to all-out civil war between majority Shi'ite Muslims and minority Sunni Arabs.

The latest Samarra attack, condemned as barbarous by US President George W Bush, immediately raised fears of similar retaliatory violence, but the reaction has so far not matched the surge in sectarian killings after the 2006 attack.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ordered an extra brigade of Iraqi security forces to Samarra, the US military said.

''We want to make sure we don't see a repeat of what happened after February 2006,'' US military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver said.

The streets of Samarra were quiet today, but there was a grim mood as Iraqi soldiers fanned out around the mainly Sunni city.

Residents said military snipers could be seen on rooftops.

Others said U.S. soldiers were seen in Samarra, but Garver said they were only helping Iraqis with transport and other specialised roles. ''We are not providing troops on the ground for security reasons. This is an Iraqi-run operation,'' he said.

Police said unidentified gunmen today attacked the al-Mustafa and Huteen mosques in Iskandariya, south of Baghdad, where the Sunni Grand Mosque was destroyed yesterday. The al-Bashir mosque in nearby Mahaweel was also attacked.

A woman and child were wounded in the attacks, police said.

PROTESTS Despite the curfews, thousands of supporters of fiery Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr took to the streets of Baghdad's sprawling Sadr City slum in noisy but peaceful protests. Protests were also staged in southern Najaf and Basra.

''Out, out occupiers,'' the Sadr City protesters chanted, in reference to U.S. forces. Sadr has repeatedly called on the government to set a timetable for a US troop withdrawal.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, frustration grew over the seemingly endless cycle of sectarian violence.

''Iraqis are killing every day without any reason, and humans are more precious than any building,'' said Ammar Salim, a graduate student from the mainly Shi'ite Kadhimiya district.

US commanders have said all American troop reinforcements will be in place by tomorrow as part of a major security crackdown in the capital. Some 28,000 extra US soldiers are being sent, most of them to Baghdad.

The crackdown is aimed at securing the capital so Maliki's Shi'ite-led government can reach political targets set by Washington aimed at promoting national reconciliation.

The crackdown was launched in mid-February and had early success in reducing the number of targeted sectarian murders between Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs, who were dominant under Saddam Hussein but now form the backbone of Iraq's bloody insurgency.

But civilian deaths rose by 29 per cent in May to almost 2,000, the highest level since the crackdown began.

US military deaths have also risen during the crackdown as thousands more troops fan out through the streets of Baghdad and other centres, becoming more visible targets.

A total of 126 were killed in May, the highest monthly total for two-and-a-half years and the third-highest since the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein began in March 2003.

The increased number of civilian and military deaths comes as General David Petraeus, commander of US forces in Iraq, and US ambassador Ryan Crocker prepare to take a progress report to Washington in September.

Bush last month described that report as an ''important moment'', but White House officials have since sought to temper expectations of rapid results from the crackdown.

REUTERS RJ ND1834