American raid against a mosque angers Sunnis in Iraq

The Iraqi and US forces intensified search operations for an American female journalist who was kidnapped in Iraq two days before and her translator who was killed in the west of Baghdad, at a time when Washington is seeking to contain the consequences of one of its raids against one Sunni mosque.

The American army described its raid against the Um al-Qura mosque as justified and announced that the operation came in the course of searching for the kidnapped journalist Jill Carol. One American military statement said that the raid came in response to a large terrorist attack inside the mosque.

On the other hand, the Sunni Arabs in Iraq described the American raid as a sinful attack, by entering by force into a mosque and with their shoes on (Muslims take their shoes off inside mosques), adding that this will worsen their relations with the American army.

On the other hand, the Arab political parties in Iraq condemned the breaking in operations by the American forces for the offices of the Muslim Scholars Commission in Baghdad accusing the American army of targeting Muslim clergymen and violating the sanctity Muslim shrines.

Witnesses said that American soldiers landed from Helicopters at a time when other soldiers broke into Um al-Qura mosque in west Baghdad where "they blew up the doors and violated the content of the offices."