Thousands assembled in Iraq's holy city of Najaf on Monday for the funerals of three men killed in an assassination attempt on a prominent Shiite Muslim cleric.
The three men who died Sunday in a bomb attack in Najaf were employees of one of Iraq's most influential Shiite clerics, Grand Ayatollah Seyed Mohammed Said al-Hakim.
Senior clerics of the Hawza, the highest religious authority of Iraq's majority Shiite community, led the funeral cortege, which arrived in the central Revolution of 1920 Square, according to AFP.
"Death to those who committed this act," said a banner held up by mourners, who also carried portraits of Grand Ayatollah Seyed Mohammed Said al-Hakim.
Two of the three men being buried were Hakim's bodyguards and the third was a cleric, according to the Ayatollah's spokesman, Abdul Hussein al-Kadi, who said at least six other people were injured in the attack.
Meanwhile, US forces caught seven men in Tikrit - two of them Saddam Hussein's loyalists and five believed responsible for attacks on American troops - during raids in the ousted leader's hometown, the military reported Monday.
No American troops were injured in the raids that resulted in the capture of the seven men, according to the 4th Infantry Division 1st Battalion 22nd Regiment, which conducted the searches, AP reported.
The military said the captured men and some still being sought were suspected of organizing regional cells of the Fedayeen Saddam, the militia loyal to Saddam Hussein.
Elsewhere, earlier in the day, two Iraqis were hurt when their vehicle tried to avoid a US checkpoint near Kirkuk, 4th Infantry Division spokeswoman Maj. Josslyn Aberle said.
The soldiers manning the checkpoint opened fire and disabled the vehicle, she added. The Iraqis were being treated and were detained. Aberle added that their wounds were not serious. (Albawaba.com)
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