Suspected al-Qaida bombers toppled the towering minarets of Samarra's revered Shiite shrine

The attack stoked fears of an upsurge in intra-Muslim violence. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government rushed to contain Shiite wrath against Sunnis, clamping a curfew on Baghdad and asking for U.S. troop reinforcements in Samarra, 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of here, and for a heightened U.S. military alert in the capital.
But sketchy reports of sectarian strife began to come in: Police told of at least four Sunni mosques in Baghdad and south of here attacked by arsonists and bombers, and of a smaller Shiite shrine bombed north of here. More...