BAGHDAD - Sunni clerics said in weekly sermons Friday that the resistance against the US presence in Iraq has nothing to do with killing civilians, while Shiites urged Sunnis to join the political process for the common good.
"Gangs-for-hire have come from across the border to kill innocent people so that everyone would say: look they (insurgents) are killing civilians," Sheikh Abdul Ghafur al-Samarraiy told the faithful at Baghdad's Umm al-Qura mosque, headquarters of the influential Sunni Muslim Committee of Muslim Scholars.
"We hear talk on television that the killing is targeting one sect but not the other, meaning Shiites but not Sunnis. That is a grand illusion, because the killer's knife does not differentiate between Sunni and Shiite."
He said 30 Sunnis were among the 47 killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a Shiite funeral tent in the northern city of Mosul on March 10.
In Adhamiyah, a predominantly Sunni district of the capital another imam urged Iraq's security forces not to hinder those who are carrying out attacks against US-led foreign troops in the country.
"We must distinguish between terror and resistance. People have an internationally recognised right to defend their country, but the rifle should not be pointed at the Iraqi brother who is trying to keep the peace," said Sheikh Ahmed Taha al-Samarraiy.
"The same applies for the security forces, they should not target someone they are sure is out to get the occupation."
A different discourse ringed in the shrine city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, as an influential cleric called on Sunnis to join the political process which has brought out the Shiites on top for the first time in Iraq's history during January's landmark elections.
"It's neither in our interest or yours that you do not take part in the political process, because your absence will perpetuate the occupation and terror and will bring down the house on everyone," said Sadreddin al-Kubanji in his sermon at the Grand Husseiniyah al-Fatimiyah.
Many segments of the Sunni community, including the scholars, boycotted the elections, but are now seeking some role in the government and the drafting of the constitution that will be put to a referendum in October.
Kubanji, who is a member of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, headed by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, repeated the Shiite leader's harsh condemnation on Wednesday of the Jordanian government's alleged silence towards the purported role of one of its nationals in the car bombing in Hilla that killed some 120 people.
"Stop saying that you are not responsible for what terrorists are doing, because you know quiet well that the trail of terror leads to your country," he thundered.
03/18/2005 16:04 GMT