Iran blames U.S., Israeli spy agencies for Iraqi shrine bombing

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jun. 16 – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei accused the intelligence agencies of the United States and Israel of masterminding the attack on Wednesday on a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Jun. 16 – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei accused the intelligence agencies of the United States and Israel of masterminding the attack on Wednesday on a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Militants carried out a bomb attack on the al-Askariya Shrine destroying its two golden minarets.

“There can be no doubt that the spy agencies of the occupiers and the Zionists were the masterminds of this evil plot”, Khamenei said. His remarks were reported on state television and carried by the official news agency IRNA on Friday.

The al-Askariya Shrine had previously come under attack in a February 2006 bombing which destroyed its golden dome.

That attack triggered a wave of sectarian violence in Iraq responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people.