EVERETT — Imad al-Turfy pointed at the gruesome photographs on a bulletin board as audiotaped readings from the Quran filled a north Everett community center.
One of the three dozen photos of the aftermath of Monday’s bombing of a mosque in Karbala, Iraq, was of a severed head. Others showed the bodies of bloodied children strewn on the ground.
"The people who did this are not human," al-Turfy said. "They are animals."
Al-Turfy was one of more than 60 Iraqi immigrants and their children who gathered at the Grandview Homes community center Thursday night to mourn the deaths of at least 181 religious pilgrims killed in bombings Tuesday at two Shiite shrines in Iraq.
The bombings were especially galling to Shiites in Everett and elsewhere because they occurred during Ashoura, which commemorates the seventh-century martyrdom of the Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of the prophet Mohammed.
It is the holiest period on the Shiite calendar. Almost all of the estimated 1,300 Iraqis in Snohomish County are members of the Shiite branch of Islam.
"This was an attack against the memory of Imam Hussein, and an attack against all Shiite people," said Riyadh al-Alaki of Everett. "These terrorists were looking for Shiites to kill."
Mourners clutched prayer beads as they listened to speakers honor those who died by reading poems to Imam Hussein and reciting his teachings. Afterward, some gathered around the bulletin board to somberly look at the three dozen harrowing photographs.
"We felt a need to do something for the people who died," said al-Alaki. "This is a simple thing, but it is something."
U.S. authorities have blamed a Jordanian with ties to al-Qaida for the bombings. Several Shiite leaders in Iraq — and some of those at Thursday’s ceremony in Everett — also suspected followers of the fundamentalist Wahabi Muslim sect, which view Shiites and other Muslim sects as heretical.
"The victims of terrorism are not just Americans," said Hussein al-Mahana of Lynnwood. "Islamic people are victims of terrorism, too."
Al-Turfy and others said the bombings illustrated why the United States should give Iraqis more control over Iraq’s security. Iraqis know better than U.S. soldiers who might be planning attacks and who might look suspicious at Shiite holy sites, he said.
Top U.S. military officials condemned the attacks, but several mourners Thursday wondered why President Bush has not spoken out against the bombings.
"Maybe he doesn’t care, because it’s not about Americans," said Adil al-Rikabi of Everett. "But this is also terrorism."
Reporter David Olson: 425-339-3452 or dolson@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
