Leading Islamic clerics hacked to death by crowd

A CROWD yesterday hacked to death two leading Islamic clerics in a shrine in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf where rival Shi’ite factions had gathered for talks.

One of the dead, the son of a former Grand Ayatollah, had only recently returned from exile in London.

“People attacked and killed both of them inside the mosque,” said Ali Assayid Haider, a mullah who travelled from Basra for the meeting of Islamic leaders.