Iran blasts Sunni clerics assassination in Basra

Rasa - Iran categorically condemned assassination of three Sunni clerics in Basra City, southern Iraq, Iran's Student News Agency reported.

News ID: 1959

Date: 04 January 2015 - 21:56

RNA - "The enemies and ill-wishers of Iraq will fail to succeed due to vigilance of Iraqi nation, political and religious elite and under guides of Iraqi clerics and religious leaders," said Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham on Sunday.

She also said such acts on the verge of Birthday of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), aim to fuel religious plots in the Islamic states.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered an urgent investigation into the fatal shooting of three Sunni clerics and the wounding of two others near the southern city of Basra.

The attack late on Thursday was carried out by four gunmen who opened fire from a speeding car on the clerics' vehicle, police sources said.

A statement from the office of al-Abadi said he ordered security commanders in Basra to "urgently work to reveal the circumstances of the attack" and arrest the perpetrators.

Two Iraqi police officers said they suspected the involvement of militants from the IS.

"Initial investigation showed that one cleric's mobile was receiving death threat messages carrying the signature of the IS. We are still working to reveal the murderers and bring them to justice," said a police colonel, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Violence in Iraq killed at least 12,282 civilians in 2014, making it the deadliest year since the sectarian bloodshed of 2006-07, when the monthly death toll sometimes exceeded 3,000, according to the United Nations.

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