Bombers blast beer shops in Baghdad
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-05-16 14:15
Bombs damaged three shops known for selling alcohol in a commercial district
of downtown Baghdad early on Tuesday in what may have been the latest attack by
militants seeking to impose Islamic customs in Iraq.
An Iraqi woman mourns
a militant of the Shiite Mehdi Army during his funeral procession in the
holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad. President Jalal Talabani insisted he
would not accept the formation of an "incomplete" cabinet, with the key
interior and defence posts still undecided five months to the day since
Iraq's landmark elections.[AFP] |
The sequence of explosions at dawn in the Karrada shopping district wrecked
the stores' frontages and, in one case, an advertising display for beer.
Police said no one was hurt as the streets were largely deserted at that
hour, just before 6 a.m. (0200 GMT).
They had no immediate comment on the motive. Violence driven by business
rivalry is also not unknown in Baghdad.
But alcohol sellers, many from Iraq's Christian minority, have been
intimidated by Islamist militants on both sides of the Sunni-Shi'ite sectarian
divide, driving many out of business or pushing the trade underground in a city
once noted, under the secular rule of Saddam Hussein, for its nightlife and
liberal social culture.
Among other aspects of a new emphasis on Muslim traditions are the increased
wearing of veils and headscarves by women in public -- a cause of complaint
among some women's rights groups -- and proclamations by militants threatening
those who do not observe conservative dress and moral codes.
Though a new, U.S.-sponsored constitution introduced last year makes Islamic
law a main reference for legislation, no new restrictions have been imposed on
the sale of alcohol, as is common in other Muslim countries, or on other social
customs.
Though Islamist parties dominate the national unity government that is in the
process of formation this week, it is unclear whether the new ministers will
seek to change that.
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