|
The United States on Thursday "strongly condemns" the assassination of senior Iraqi Shiite cleric Abdul Majid al-Khoei in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf.
"The very regrettable assassination of a sheikh from Najaf -- which the United States strongly condemns, and we express our sympathies to the people of Najaf over this assassination -- is another reminder of how dangerous the situation is inside Iraq," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters at a regular press briefing.
Abdul Majid al-Khoei, son of the late Grand Ayatollah Abu al-Qassim al-Khoei, had returned to Iraq last week from exile in London.
The cleric was stabbed to death Thursday by a mob at the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf before a scheduled meeting with Arab journalists.
(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2003)
|
