NYTimes > Reuters > International > Iraqi Troops Raid Baghdad Mosque, 17 Detained

The New York Times > Reuters > International > Iraqi Troops Raid Baghdad Mosque, 17 Detained:
"Hundreds of Iraqi troops backed by U.S. forces stormed a Sunni Muslim mosque in Baghdad after Friday prayers, killing four people and wounding at least nine, witnesses and an influential group of Sunni clerics said.

The Iraqi troops raided the Abu Hanifa mosque in the Sunni district of Aadhamiya, firing percussion grenades and damaging the doors, the Muslim Clerics Association said.

They opened fire when furious worshippers began to chant ``Allahu Akbar'' (God is Great) and tried to beat back troops by throwing shoes at them -- a grave insult in Islam.

Around 17 people were detained but the objective of the raid was not immediately clear."

U.S.-led forces have stormed at least two mosques in recent weeks and detained clerics critical of the Falluja operation.

But guerrillas kept pressure on Iraq's U.S.-backed security forces with a suicide car bombing on a police convoy in the capital. A policeman and a bystander were killed and at least five people wounded, police said.

And in the troubled northern city of Mosul, an unexplained fire destroyed voter registration papers and other materials being stored at a warehouse in anticipation of the vote.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-iraq.html