A step closer to civil war

The Samarra skyline is dominated by two sights, writes Ewen MacAskill.

The main attraction for most western tourists - and there was a trickle of these during Saddam Hussein's rule, though none now - was the spiral minaret, perhaps the most distinctive sight in the whole of Iraq. But the main attraction for Shia Muslims from the west, as for those visiting in greater numbers from Iran and elsewhere in Iraq, was always the golden mosque, destroyed today by Sunni gunmen.

The mosque is one of four Shia holy sites in Iraq, the others being Najaf, Kerbala and Baghdad. Pilgrims came to Samarra to pay homage to two imams buried there, Ali al-Hadi and al-Hasan al-Askari, the 10th and 11th Shia Imams; the 12th Imam, Mohammed al-Mahdi, disappeared there.

When news of the destruction reached Baghdad, Tehran, London and Washington, there was immediate recognition that this was an act with potentially enormous consequences.

Diplomats at the Foreign Office, conscious of the impact that the attack will have on Shia Muslims, urged Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, to put out a speedy reaction. He described it as a "criminal and sacrilegious act".

The Shia have been on the receiving end of some of the worst atrocities since the fall of Saddam Hussein, most of them caused by car bombs. But the Shia, who are the majority in Iraq, will see a direct attack on one of their holiest shrines as harder to forgive, taking them a step closer to civil war.

guardian.co.uk / Iraq