Top Shia Cleric Dies in Iraqi Mosque Bombing

Iraq's political future was plunged into crisis yesterday when a devastating car bomb killed at least 80 people, including its most influential Muslim cleric, outside a Shia shrine in the holy city of Najaf.

Ayatollah Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq and an uneasy ally of the coalition, died as he left the Imam Ali mosque yesterday afternoon after leading Friday prayers. More than 200 others, mostly worshippers, were injured.

The outside wall of the gold-domed mosque, holiest site in the Shia faith, was blackened by smoke and scarred by shrapnel. Dozens of bodies lay in the street as angry crowds gathered around an upturned and burned-out car a few metres from the mosque wall.

It was not clear who was responsible. Some senior Iraqis blamed Saddam Hussein loyalists while others suggested that Ayatollah Hakim died as a result of clashes between Shia factions vying for influence.

Paul Bremer, the US administrator, promised a full investigation into the attack. "Again, they have killed innocent Iraqis. Again, they have violated one of Islam's most sacred places. Again, by their heinous action, they have shown the evil face of terrorism."

Ayatollah Hakim spent 23 years in exile in Iran. His party decided on its return to Iraq to campaign not for a theocratic state like Iran but for a position in a democratic government.

His brother Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who is likely to take up the party leadership, has a seat on the governing council appointed by the coalition authority last month .

Another explosion was reported last night in Basra, 200-300 yards from the base of the British army's 19th Mechanised Brigade.