(Telegraph-UK) David Blair - Saddam City, Baghdad's poorest slum, is populated almost entirely by Shia Muslims, who comprise about 60 percent of Iraq's population and are viewed with deep suspicion by the regime. In 1999, thousands of Iraqis rioted there following the murder of Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, Iraq's leading Shia cleric, almost certainly on Saddam's orders. The official number of dead in the riots was 27, but most accounts put the true figure at closer to 100.
2002-12-18 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive