As followers of this blog will note, I have become less and less of a fan of Islam over the years. That said, I can find nothing in this action to support or praise. The destruction of the holy sites and places of a religion can only rarely be justified – and doing so via terrorism rather than the rule of law is NEVER acceptable.

One of the most revered shrines in Shiite Islam was bombed early this morning, causing the collapse of its dome, police and eyewitnesses said. There was no immediate estimate of casualties in the latest in a series of sectarian attacks in the country.

The shrine in Samarra, a predominantly Sunni Arab city 60 miles north of Baghdad, contains the remains of two of Shiite Islam's most prominent Imams. The bomb is believed to have been planted a day earlier, said Capt. Basheer Qadoori, of the city's police force.

"Last night, five armed men wearing ski masks broke into the shrine, kidnapped 5 guards of the shrine and planted two bombs inside," Qadoori said.

Iraq's most notable Shiite religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, announced a week long mourning and urged people to go to the streets in "peaceful demonstrations to denounce this criminal act." Sistani's office said a detailed statement would be released later today.

Shiite Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari announced a three-day mourning in a televised appearance. "I call on my people to express their condemnation," Jaafari said. He asked Iraqis to "close the door to all those who are fishing in the troubled water."

The attack, which sparked immediate and widespread protests among Shiites across Iraq, appeared designed to further inflame sectarian tension between Iraq's Shiite majority and the Sunni Arab population from whose ranks the bulk of the country's insurgency is drawn.

I gladly join with Prime Minister Jaafari in expressing my condemnation of the bombing.

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