2006 al-Askari mosque bombing
The 2006 al-Askari Shrine bombing occurred on 22 February 2006 at approximately 6:44 a.m. local Iraqi time, and targeted the al-Askari Shrine in the city of Samarra, Iraq. The attack on the mosque, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, has not been claimed by any group; the then President of the United States, George W. Bush, claimed that the bombing was an al-Qaeda plot. Although the mosque was severely damaged from the blast, there were no casualties.
| 2006 al-Askari Shrine bombing | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Iraqi Civil War | |
Photograph of the mosque before the attack | |
Samarra Location of the attack within Iraq | |
| Location | Samarra, Saladin Governorate, Iraq |
| Coordinates | 34.1990°N 43.8736°E |
| Date | 22 February 2006 6:44 a.m. (UTC+03:00) |
| Target | Al-Askari Shrine |
Attack type | Bombing |
| Deaths | None |
| Injured | None |
| Perpetrators | Unknown |
The attack was followed by retaliatory violence, with over a hundred dead bodies being found the next day and well over 1,000 deaths in the days following the bombing; some counts place the death toll at over 1,000 on the first day alone. Already-prevalent communal violence between Iraqi Sunnis and Shia armed groups eventually escalated into a full-scale civil war.