2006 al - Askari Mosque bombing " This article is about the bombing that took place in 2006 . For the later bombing see 2007 al - Askari Mosque bombing " The 2006 al - Askari Mosque bombing occurred at the al - Askari Mosque in the Iraqi city of Samarra , on February 22 , 2006 , at about 6 : 44 a . m . local time ( 0344 UTC ) . The attack on the mosque , one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam , is believed to have been caused by Al - Qaeda in Iraq . Although no injuries occurred in the blasts , the mosque was severely damaged . The bombing was followed by retaliatory violence with over a hundred dead bodies being found the next day and well over 1 , 000 people killed in the days following the bombing – by some counts , over 1 , 000 on the first day alone . The bombing . On February 22 , 2006 , at 6 : 44 a . m . ( 0344 UTC ) , explosions occurred at al - Askari Mosque , effectively destroying its golden dome and severely damaging the mosque . Several men wearing military uniforms , had earlier entered the mosque , tied up the guards there and set explosives , resulting in the blast . Two bombs were set off by five to seven men dressed as personnel of the Iraqi special forces who entered the shrine during the morning . No injuries were reported following the bombing . However , the northern wall of the shrine was damaged by the bombs , causing the dome to collapse and destroying three - quarters of the structure along with it . Following the blast , American and Iraqi forces surrounded the shrine and began searching houses in the area . Five police officers responsible for protecting the mosque were taken into custody . The dome had been repaired by April 2009 and the shrine reopened to visitors . Responsibility and accusations . No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on the mosque . Al - Qaeda in Iraq . Although Al - Qaeda in Iraq denied any involvement in statements released , in June 2006 , it was reported that Iraqi commandos and troops had captured and seriously wounded Yousri Fakher Mohammed Ali , a Tunisian also known as Abu Qudama al - Tunesi , after he and 15 other foreign fighters stormed an Iraqi checkpoint 25 miles north of Baghdad , according to Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwafak al - Rubaie . Abu Qudama confessed to taking part in the attack on al - Askari mosque in Samarra and gave a detailed account of how the attack took place . Al - Rubaie said Iraqi security forces had yet to capture the mastermind of the mosque attack , Haitham al - Badri , an Iraqi and leader of one of Al Qaeda in Iraq ' s cells . Al - Rubaie said al - Badri , Abu Qudama , four Saudi nationals and two other Iraqis stormed the mosque Feb . 21 , rounded up the shrine ' s guards , members of Iraq ' s Facility Protection Service , and bound their hands . The group then spent the rest of the night rigging the mosque with bombs . At dawn the next day , they detonated the explosives , bringing down the dome . In an August 2006 press conference U . S . President George W . Bush stated " it ' s pretty clear – at least the evidence indicates – that the bombing of the shrine was an Al Qaida plot , all intending to create sectarian violence . " Before his death , Abu Musab al - Zarqawi listed among his goals the incitement of a civil war between Iraq ' s Shiites and Sunnis . In September 2006 , Iraqi officials announced the capture of Hamid Juma Faris Jouri al - Saeedi in connection with the bombing , allegedly done on his orders by Haitham al - Badri . Al - Badri was killed in August 2007 . Violent reactions . As a result of the bombing , there was widespread violence throughout Iraq . According to the Sunni Clerical Association of Muslim Scholars , 168 mosques were attacked in the two days following the bombing , while ten imams were murdered and fifteen others kidnapped . The Shi ' ite controlled Interior Ministry said it could only confirm figures for Baghdad , where it had reports of 19 mosques attacked , one cleric killed and one abducted . The normal daily patrols of US coalition forces and Iraqi security forces were temporarily suspended in Baghdad during the few days following the bombing . Political reactions . Iraq . Prime Minister Ibrahim al - Jaafari has urged Iraqis to stay unified and peaceful , saying the attack was an effort to incite violence . He has also called for three days of national mourning . However , talks between him and a prominent Sunni Muslim group are put on hold as the Sunni Iraqi Accord Front quits discussions on forming a new government due to the recent violence . At the same time , a government organization called the Sunni Endowments that maintains Sunni mosques and shrines condemned the attack . On Feb 25 , al - Jaafari blamed terrorists for the crisis : " The Iraqi people have one enemy ; it is terrorism and only terrorism . . . . There are no Sunnis against Shiites or Shiites against Sunnis . " Despite the Sunni boycott , President Jalal Talabani pressed ahead with a meeting that he had called to avert a descent toward a civil war . After discussions with Shiites , Kurds and leaders of a smaller Sunni group , he warned about the danger of all - out war . The government is extending a curfew it imposed in parts of the country on Friday to calm tensions sparked by an attack on a Shia shrine . Iraqi defence minister Saadoun al - Dulaimi warned about the danger of a long civil war . Also , he said that Iraq would not hesitate to dispatch tanks to the streets to end violence and impose security . The minister also denied any involvement by what he called Interior Ministry commandos in the attack that targeted Harith Sulayman al - Dari , leader of the Association of Muslim Scholars . Sunni and Shiite clerics in Iraq have agreed to prohibit killings and to ban attacks on each other ' s mosques in an effort to ease sectarian violence . Worldwide . U . S . President George W . Bush warned about the threat of civil war and expressed support for the Iraqi government . On February 25 , Bush called seven Iraqi political leaders in an extraordinary round of telephone diplomacy aimed at getting talks restarted about forming a permanent government . On February 28 , Bush decried the latest surge in sectarian violence and said that for Iraqis " the choice is chaos or unity . " In congressional testimony , National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said a civil war in Iraq could lead to a broader conflict in the Middle East , pitting the region ' s Sunni and Shiite powers against one another . UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called the bombing a " criminal and sacrilegious act " , urging Iraqis to show restraint and avoid retaliation . Zalmay Khalilzad , Washington ' s ambassador to Iraq , and the top US commander in the country , Gen . George Casey , issued a joint statement saying the US would contribute to the shrine ' s reconstruction . Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has laid blame on the United States and coalition forces . " They invade the shrine and bomb there because they oppose God and justice , " Ahmadinejad said , referring to the U . S . - led multinational forces in Iraq . Religious reactions . Iraq . Grand Ayatollah Ali al - Sistani sent instructions to his followers forbidding attacks on Sunni mosques , especially the major ones in Baghdad , and calling for seven days of mourning . He hinted that religious militias could be given a bigger security role if the government was incapable of protecting holy shrines . On February 25 Sistani called for Iraq ' s powerful tribes to be deployed to protect the country ' s holy places after three attacks on Shia shrines in four days : " Ayatollah Sistani , who received a tribal delegation from Kufa , asked that the Iraqi tribes reclaim their role of protecting the shrines , " said an official in Sistani ' s office in the Shia clerical center of Najaf . . . . After the crimes against the places of worship , including the blowing up of the mausoleum in Samarra and the attacks against the tombs of Salman the Persian and Imam Ali bin Mussa al - Rida , the tribes must take a stand and claim a role in the protection of these sites . " Muqtada al - Sadr condemned the attack and called for calm . Having called to stop mutual attacks , Sadr ordered members of his militia to protect Sunni mosques in majority Shia areas in southern Iraq . He called for Iraqi unity and warned against " a plan by the occupation to spark a sectarian war " . He called on Sunni groups such as the Association of Muslim Scholars to form a joint panel and ordered his militia to defend Shiite holy sites across Iraq . On February 25 Sunni and Shiite clerics agreed to prohibit killing members of the two sects and banning attacks on each other ' s mosques in an effort to ease tension between Iraq ' s Muslim communities following sectarian violence after the bombing of a Shi ' ite shrine . The agreement was made during a meeting between representatives of radical Shiite cleric Sadr , Shiite religious leader Jawad al - Khalisi and members of the influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars at the Abu Hanifa Mosque , a Sunni place of worship . According to Juan Cole , three Iraqi clerics all employed their influence and authority among the Shiite rank and file to make the Samarra bombing work for them politically . Sistani expanded his militia and stayed at the forefront of the movement by encouraging peaceful rallies . Abdul Aziz al - Hakim used the explosion in Samarra to bolster his own authority . He remonstrated with the American ambassador , saying it was not reasonable to expect the religious Shiites , who won the largest bloc of seats in parliament , to give up their claim on the ministry of interior , and that , indeed , Khalilzad had helped provoke the troubles with his assertions to that effect earlier . Muqtada al - Sadr used the incident to push for a U . S . withdrawal from Iraq , something he has wanted since the fall of Saddam . Abroad , Supreme Jurisprudent Khamenei blamed Bush and his Israeli allies , an allegation widely believed to be true in Iraq . Iran . Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Shi ' ites not to take revenge on Sunni Muslims for the attack on the Samarra shrine . India . Syed Ali Nasir Saeed Abaqati a leading Shia cleric from Lucknow , India held al - Qaeda responsible for destruction of the Al - Askari Mosque in Samarra , Iraq . Analysts ' views . " I think this is probably the most dangerous event that has occurred since the fall of Saddam Hussein , " former CIA Middle East specialist Reuel Marc Gerecht told CNN . " It risks our entire enterprise in Iraq . " " We may be on the verge of taking communal violence to the next level , " warned Juan Cole , professor of Middle - Eastern history at the University of Michigan , who called Wednesday " an apocalyptic day in Iraq " . " It ' s very clear that the Shiites are interpreting this chain of events as evidence that the Americans are weak and can ' t protect Shiite interests , " said Cole . " And now Americans are having to come back to the Shiites and ask them to be magnanimous and give away a lot of what they ' ve won in elections . " " It was always going to be a very hard sell , but now it ' s an impossible argument ; Shiites aren ' t going to give away any power at all at this point , " he said , adding that " it ' s possible that there could be a hung parliament , the government would collapse , and you ' d have to go to new elections . And that would be a disaster in the present circumstances . " William F . Buckley , Jr . considered the bombing as an indication of a general failure of the US policy in Iraq . WikiLeaks data . The October 2010 Iraq War documents leak shed new light on the events of February – March 2006 . In particular , the logs reveal that U . S . soldiers immediately reported an " explosion of retaliatory killings , kidnappings , tortures , mosque attacks , and open street fighting , " even as U . S . commanders including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were downplaying media reports of a surge in killings . The previous " official " death toll for post - bombing sectarian fighting , of 3 – 400 , was based on information from the Shiite - led government and the Sadr - run Health Ministry , which was directly involved in atrocities according to the logs . According to " Washington Post " reporter Ellen Knickmeyer , her contemporary report of 1 , 300 + casualties , dismissed at the time as an outlier , was in fact an undercount .