Samarra mosque bombing may have been inside job

Following the Samarra attack this morning, which destroyed two minarets of a Shiite mosque, US officials say that the bombing may have been backed by Sunnis within the Iraqi government:

"The explosions that led to the collapse of the two minarets weredue to bombs planted at their bases," said Lieutenant Omar Ghalib fromSamarra police.

An AFP correspondent at the site said that Iraqi and US forces wereheavily deployed in the town as US helicopters hovered above.

"A team of explosives experts has been dispatched to the shrine," said local government spokesman Ali al-Juboori.

US officials expect a huge spike in Shiite vs Sunni violence following this attack, as that was what happened after a Shiite mosque was targeted last year.

So how holy was that shrine?  As Juan Cole points out, this bombing is a very big deal:

The shrine is among the holiest in the Shiite world, dedicated to thefather and grandfather of the hidden Twelfth Imam. Millenarian Shiitesbelieve that the hidden Imam will one day return to restore the worldto justice and herald the Judgment Day (i.e. he is like the secondcoming of Christ for Christians).

As for the troop surge, you can judge for yourself how well that has worked.