SYRIAN MUSLIM CLERIC HATE!
Thousands mourn Iraq-linked Syrian cleric
Sat 29 Sep 2007
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Thousands of people attended a funeral in northern Syria on Saturday for a cleric who had recruited insurgents to fight U.S. forces in Iraq.
Witnesses said a mosque in the city of Aleppo was packed with mourners for Sheikh Mahmoud Abou al-Qaqa, a Syrian Kurd who was shot dead after leading prayers on Friday.
"The crowd was mainly young and many wept. The coffin was paraded in the district he preached in," one man who attended the funeral told Reuters. "No speeches were given. I think silence was best given the sensitivities generated by the killing".
Qaqa's coffin was wrapped in the Syrian flag and his followers wore red bandanas. One put attendance at 20,000.
The Syrian government has not commented on the killing. Qaqa's aides said on Friday that the man who shot the cleric after he emerged from prayers was being held in custody.
Qaqa had thousands of followers and operated in the mysterious world of Islamist movements in Aleppo, a once liberal trading hub that has become more religious in recent years.
He had called for jihad, or holy war, to counter U.S. policies against Syria. Experts say he had toned down his rhetoric lately and become less active.
Qaqa disappeared from Aleppo last year. He returned this year and became head of a religious school. He led prayers at a mosque in the northern part of the city.
"I challenge anyone to prove that I had ever called for unlawful resistance or indiscriminate violence against any country," Qaqa once said.
Syrian writer Shaban Aboud said Qaqa was virtually unknown before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that removed Saddam Hussein from power and ushered sectarian strife.
The Syrian government is accused by Washington and the pro-U.S. government in Baghdad of helping foreign fighters behind sectarian killings and attacks on U.S. soldiers.
Damascus denies helping rebels. Syria has been ruled by the Baath Party since 1963 and is a tightly controlled country.