Life returns to Samarra in wake of shrine’s bombing

 

By Abdulsamia al-Samarrai

 

Azzaman, February 28, 2006

 

Life is back to normal in the northern city of Samarra which was placed under a 20-hour-a-day curfew following last week’s attack on the Shiite holy shrine there.

 

The shrine, one of the holiest for Muslim Shiites in the world, was still closed but preparations were underway to repair the damage it sustained as a result of the bombing.

 

The outer walls of the once golden dome shrine are clad with black placards as a sign of mourning.

 

The placards were put in place by the mainly Sunni-dominated tribes in the city, declaring their denunciation of the attack.

 

Iraqi security forces had cordoned off Samarra and only allowed traffic to and form the city on Monday.

 

Fuel and food was running low in the city, home to nearly 250,000 people but supplies began flowing once the troops removed restrictions on movement of people and vehicles.

 

Samarra, a bastion of U.S. resistance, is a tribal society. Powerful tribes, inside and in the outskirts, are know to have opposed coercive measures from any government in the past.

 

The Sunni tribes have for centuries guarded the Shiite shrine in their midst and have vowed to contribute to its reconstruction.

 

Scenes of mourning and grief were still evident in the mainly Sunni city on Monday.

 

Defying the curfew, group after group representing the city’s tribes and trade unions have been passing by the shrine, hoisting banners and shouting slogans in denunciation of the bombing.

 

Tribal representatives stand guard at the shrine and their members have already began removing the debris and cleaning the site.

 

Sheikh Ahmad al-Dhai, the Imam of the major Sunni mosque in Samarra condemned the attack, saying the perpetrators wanted to ignite a civil war in the country.

 

Addressing more than 1,000 worshippers who had crammed the mosque, Dhai said: “The people of Samarra have protected the shrine for centuries and no one dared to touch it. Those committing this vicious crime wanted evil for this city and its inhabitants.”