Angry mourners call for vengeance at shrine

Thousands of angry mourners called for vengeance today as they gathered outside Iraq’s holiest Shi-ite shrine where a day earlier a car bomb ripped through a crowd of worshippers, killing at least 85 people – including a leading cleric.

The bomb, which also wounded more than 140, detonated outside the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf as Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim emerged after delivering a sermon calling for Iraqi unity. The attack was viewed by many as an assassination.