BAGHDAD — One day after Shiite religious and political leaders renewed calls to avoid sectarian violence that could result in a civil war, the bodies of at least three more slain Muslim clerics were reportedly found in Baghdad on Tuesday.
The body of Sunni cleric Hassan Nuaimi, who disappeared Sunday, was turned in at a morgue, according to the hard-line Muslim Scholars Assn., of which Nuaimi was a member. His corpse was said to have been badly mutilated.
The scholars association said Nuaimi had been taken into custody Sunday by uniformed officers of the Iraqi Interior Ministry. The association charged that Nuaimi was the victim of "terrorism by the government," and it called for the resignation of recently appointed Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, a Shiite.
The Interior Ministry denied any knowledge of Nuaimi being arrested by its officers.
Shiite clerics Mani Hassan and Muwaffaq Mansour were killed by gunmen in separate incidents in Baghdad on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Hassan was shot outside his house, and Mansour was ambushed in his car, the news service said.
More than a month of resurgent rebel violence has been augmented by the discovery in recent days of scores of bodies in and around the capital, most of the victims killed execution-style and some beheaded. Many of those killed have been Sunni Arabs, sparking concerns that armed Shiite groups have begun taking revenge despite repeated calls by their religious leaders to exercise restraint against the Sunni-fueled insurgency that has slaughtered thousands of Shiites.
"If this issue is not dealt with, it will become difficult to control," said a senior Shiite cleric in the holy city of Najaf, speaking on condition of anonymity Tuesday. The cleric, an aide to a member of the marjaiyah, the top Shiite religious elite, acknowledged that Shiite frustration may have reached the point where some people are acting in defiance of religious edicts against retaliation.
The marjaiyah, led by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, has consistently instructed followers not to fight back, while also having marshaled the power of Iraq's Shiite majority to ensure a dominant performance in January's election.
Sistani's word is law for most devout Iraqi Shiites, but some observers believe the patience of his followers is wearing thin.
