Iraq’s most influential Shiite political leader today called for Sunni-Shiite unity as religious figures sought to calm passions and pull the nation from the brink of civil war after the bombing of a Shiite shrine two days ago and a wave of deadly reprisal attacks.

Mariam Fam, Baghdad

On his return to Iraq following Saddam Hussein’s fall from power, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim was hailed as Iraq’s version of Ruhollah Khomeini, the Iranian Shiite leader who led his country’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

Iraqis digging with shovels and their bare hands today excavated a mass grave filled with the remains of dozens of people who witnesses said were executed after a 1991 Shiite uprising against Saddam Hussein’s government.