Iraq's Sistani urges end to attacks on Sunni mosques

Sat 16 Jun 2007 11:46:06 BST
BAGHDAD, June 16 (Reuters) - Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani on Saturday condemned attacks on Sunni mosques in the southern city of Basra and called for a halt to such violence.The attacks have been apparent reprisals against Sunnis after militants blew up the minarets of a revered Shi'ite mosque in Samarra on Wednesday."He heavily condemns the attacks against the mosques of Talha ben Obaida Alla and al-Eshra al Mubashera in Basra," Sistani's spokesman, Hamed al-Khafaf, told Reuters. "He calls on believers to prevent, as much as they can, such attacks from taking place on mosques and shrines."