As worshippers left Friday prayers at one of Shia Islam's holiest sites, a car bomb detonated, killing Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, along with more than 85 others. The assassination, months after the US-led invasion, was one of the earliest and deadliest signs that Iraq's postwar power vacuum would fracture along sectarian lines.
Al-Hakim had returned to Iraq only months earlier after more than two decades in exile in Iran, where he had led opposition to Saddam Hussein. His return was seen as a stabilizing moment for Iraq's Shia majority, offering an alternative to more radical figures.
The bomb, packed into a vehicle and detonated as crowds streamed from the Imam Ali Shrine, tore through a market and left a crater feet deep. Witnesses described a scene of chaos, with bodies and wreckage scattered across the plaza in front of the shrine.
No group claimed responsibility, but suspicion fell on Sunni insurgents and remnants of Saddam's Ba'athist regime seeking to inflame sectarian tension. The assassination foreshadowed years of sectarian violence to come, as Shia and Sunni militias would trade attacks on holy sites and civilians throughout the occupation.
Key people: Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim