Sunnis begin a religious holiday in Iraq
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-03 20:48

In Tikrit, the day began for many Sunnis with early morning services at their mosques. At one, a preacher called for the withdrawal of all U.S. forces but his sermon also urged Sunnis to vote in Iraq's Dec. 15 parliamentary election.

Most Sunnis boycotted the Jan. 30 vote that elected the current interim parliament, but many turned up for the constitutional referendum on Oct. 15.

As Eid began in Tikrit, no American patrols were seen on the streets for the first time in weeks. Iraqi police and soldiers were on duty instead, in an apparent effort to reduce the chance of violence ruining the holiday.

Eid celebrations also were taking place in Baghdad's mostly Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah. Iraqi and U.S. troops stepped up patrols in the area as children flocked to a small park where they took rides on a small Ferris wheel and a horse-drawn carriage.

But Zuhair Shihab, 45, the owner of a stall selling food there, said he felt sad, having just heard that the body of one of his friends had been found on a street of Baghdad, 10 days after he had been kidnapped.

Such killings are fairly common in Baghdad, some the result of fighting between Sunnis and Shiites, others the result of criminals seeking ransom for hostages.

Shihab also was angered by the presence of the coalition forces.

"What kind of Eid we can we celebrate in the presence of U.S. troops?" he said in an interview. "They brought all this misery to us."

Before the Iraq war, the Eid al-Fitr holiday often brought a windfall for shop and restaurant owners, and a time of relaxation and celebration for many Iraqis and their families and friends.

But two and a half years after the U.S.-led invasion, fighting between coalition forces and insurgents, and the militants' use of suicide bombers and roadside bombs, often make security a top priority for Iraqi families. Some feel they have to closely guard their homes, day and night.

The timing of this year's Eid holiday also is another sign of the deep divisions that developed between minority Sunnis and majority Shiites under Saddam, a Sunni who persecuted many Shiites during his rule.

The months of the Muslim calendar are lunar. Therefore, they start when the new moon is spotted in the sky by trustworthy members of the community. Based on that procedure, Sunni clerics decided that Eid would begin on Thursday this year, while Shiites chose Friday.