U.S. Troops Kill Iraq Shrine Bomber

BAGHDAD – U.S. troops killed an al-Qaida leader behind the bombing of twin minarets at Iraq’s prized Golden Dome shrine in Samarra, the military said Sunday.

Haitham Sabah Shaker Mohammed al-Badri was killed in a U.S. operation Thursday east of Samarra, the U.S. military said in a statement.

The military said al-Badri was the al-Qaida in Iraq emir of Salahuddin province, and the mastermind responsible for the bombing of the Askariya mosque’s minarets on June 13.

“Al-Badri was positively identified by close associates and family members,” the statement said.

The Shiite shrine’s minarets were brought down by suspected al-Qaida militants in June. An earlier bombing, in February 2006, destroyed the same mosque’s golden dome and set in motion an unrelenting cycle of retaliatory sectarian bloodletting.