Sunday, July 13, 2008

Sectarian violence in 1991

As my mother told me last night about her relatives who were killed in 1991, she reminded me of her uncle's wife Bumooni. Bumooni's mother was a beautiful Iranian woman who met the mayor of Najaf in Iran and eventually married him and moved to Najaf with him. Bumooni worked most of her adult life as a midwife in Najaf. My parents say she was very generous and she became famous among Najafis. In March 1991, as Saddam's forces besieged Najaf, Bumooni and her daughter took shelter in the Imam Ali Mosque. Saddam's henchmen attacked the mosque and gunned down almost everybody inside. Bumooni was shot in the abdomen. Her devastated daughter and a good samaritan carried Bumooni to her home, where she died.

In my post "No sectarian violence before 2003" I posted a documentary about the Shia uprising of 1991 and Saddam's subsequent attacks on Najaf and Kerbala.

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