2007 al-Askari Mosque bombing

Al-Askari mosque 2007 bombing
The mosque after the first bombing in 2006
Location	Samarra, Iraq
Date	13 June 2007
Target	Al-Askari Mosque
Attack type	Bombing (demolition) or a rocket or mortar attack
Deaths	0
Non-fatal injuries	0
Perpetrators	Attributed to the Iraqi Baath Party

The 2007 al-Askari mosque bombing (Arabic: تفجير مسجد العسكري‎‎) occurred on 13 June 2007 at around 9 am local time at one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, the al-Askari Mosque, and has been attributed by Iran to the Iraqi Baath Party. While there were no injuries or deaths reported, the mosque's two ten-story minarets were destroyed in the attacks. This was the second bombing of the mosque, with the first bombing occurring on 22 February 2006 and destroying the mosque's golden dome.

By April 2009, both minarets had been repaired.

At around 9 am on 13 June 2007, insurgents destroyed the two remaining ten-story tall golden minarets flanking the ruins of the dome of the Al-Askari Mosque. The mosque compound and minarets had been closed since the 2006 bombing and no fatalities were reported. Iraqi police reported hearing "two nearly simultaneous explosions coming from inside the mosque compound at around 9 am" Local residents reported blasts that shook the city and sent a cloud of dust into the air.

While it has been stated that "the collapse of the two minarets appeared to have been caused by explosive charges placed at their bases", different reports have caused some confusion as to whether bombs were actually used. A release from state run Iraqia Television stated that "local officials said that two mortar rounds were fired at the two minarets", in addition "a government spokesman claimed the minarets were hit by rockets".

It has been noted that the attack was one in a string of bombings in 2007 against major Shi'ite shrines, including two car bomb attacks in Karbala: one near the Imam Husayn Shrine (which killed 36 people and wounded 168) and the other near the Imam Abbas shrine, the second-holiest site in Shi'ite Islam, which killed at least 58 people and wounded 169.

Since the 2006 bombing of the al-Askari shrine, it had been under protection of local guards who were predominantly Sunni. Both American military and Iraqi security officials were worried that the guards had been infiltrated by Al Qaeda forces in Iraq. To counter this the Ministry of Interior in Baghdad were bringing in a new guard unit – predominantly Shiite. This changing of the guard is believed to have had some role in the timing of the attack. Abdul Sattar Abdul Jabbar, a prominent Sunni cleric, told Al Jazeera television that local Sunnis may have been provoked as he claimed "the new guards had arrived at the shrine shouting sectarian slogans". Gunfire was reported around the shrine before the attack, "which may have been related to the change of guards." Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stated that Policemen at the shrine (15 of them according to US military sources) had been detained for questioning along with "an unspecified number of other suspects." It was confirmed that "the entire Iraqi security force responsible for guarding the mosque, the 3rd Battalion of the Salahuddin province police, was detained for investigation." The Interior Ministry would only tell reporters that agents of "a terrorist group" had been arrested and were under interrogation. On Sunday 17 June 2007 Iraqi forces captured four additional suspects and their raid "also turned up a compact disc showing attacks on U.S.-led troops, blasting caps and detonation wire, identification cards for access to al-Askari mosque and photographs depicting terrorist training exercises."