2006 al-Askari mosque bombing

2006 al-Askari Shrine bombing
Part of the Iraqi Civil War
Photograph of al-Askari Shrine before the 2006 bombing
Samarra Location in Iraq
Location	Samarra, Saladin Governorate, Iraq
Coordinates	34°11′56″N 43°52′25″E / 34.1990°N 43.8736°E / 34.1990; 43.8736
Date	22 February 2006; 18 years ago (2006-02-22) 6:44 a.m. (UTC+03:00)
Target	Al-Askari Shrine
Attack type	Bombing
Deaths	None
Injured	None
Perpetrator	Unknown

At approximately 6:44 a.m. Arabia Standard Time on 22 February 2006, al-Askari Shrine in Samarra, Iraq, was severely damaged in a bombing attack amidst the then-ongoing Iraq War. Constructed in the 10th century, it is one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam. Despite the magnitude of the explosions, there were no casualties. American president George W. Bush asserted that the bombing had been carried out by Al-Qaeda in Iraq, which denied involvement in the attack.

Although responsibility for the 2006 al-Askari bombing was not claimed by any party, the incident was followed by bouts of retaliatory violence among Iraqis, with over 100 dead bodies being found the next day^[1] and well over 1,000 deaths occurring over the course of a few days after the attack; some counts place the death toll at over 1,000 on the first day alone.^[2] Sectarian violence between Shia Muslims and Sunni Muslims had already been prevalent since the beginning of the Iraqi insurgency in 2003, but the attack on al-Askari Shrine triggered the Iraqi civil war, which was marked by an intensive series of attacks against Iraqi civilians on the basis of their religious affiliation until 2008.

Just over a year later, the 2007 al-Askari mosque bombing resulted in damage to the structure, but no casualties. Similarly, no party claimed responsibility for the 2007 attack, but Iran asserted that it had been carried out by the banned Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. A fresh wave of sectarian violence between Shias and Sunnis took place in the aftermath of the second bombing.