shrine attack

Srinagar, June 14 (UNI) The shia-dominated border town of Kargil today observed complete shut down while several parts of the Kashmir valley witnessed massive demonstrations in protest against an attack on a revered Shi'ite mosque in the Iraqi city of Samarra yesterday.

A report from Kargil said that shops and business establishments in the entire town remained closed and traffic was off the road on a general strike call given by Islamiya High School, Kargil, in protest against the attack on the mosque.

Thousand of people took to the streets raising anti-US State and anti-Isreal slogans.

A number of muslim scholars and other leaders addressed people and appealed them to remain united.

Two minarets at the revered Golden Mosque, one of the four major Shi'ite shrines in Iraq was blown up in a bomb blast yesterday. A bombing of the same shrine last year unleashed a wave of sectarian killing.

People at shia-dominated areas in the Kashmir valley, including Badgam, Bagwanpora, Mirbehri, Zadibal and Shalimar took to the streets in protest against the attack on the religious place.

They alleged that the US and Isreal were trying to ''divide the muslim world on communal lines''.

The demonstrators later dispersed peacefully.

UNI