BAGHDAD, May 20 (UPI) -- Despite local, Arab and foreign efforts to ease sectarian tensions in Iraq, the assassination of Sunni and Shiite clerics has sparked fears of civil strife.
Sunni mosques are expected to close down for three days after Friday prayers in response to a call by the Committee of Muslim Ulemas, the highest Sunni religious authority, to protest against the assassination of several top Sunni clerics.
The committee issued a statement late Thursday night condemning the slayings which it slammed as "terrorist acts that cannot be possibly justified."
"These acts are aimed at inciting strife by the enemies of the Iraqi people," the statement said.
Shiite clerics, on the other hand, also condemned the assassinations, the last victim of which was Sheikh Mohammed Taher Allak, a Shiite and senior aide of Ayatollah Ali Sistani who was slain in Baghdad Thursday night.
