User:Seesvenue23/2014 Sunni-Shia conflict

The Sunni-Shia split is rooted in the question of who should succeed the Prophet Muhammad in leading Muslims after his death in 632. Theology and religious practice distinguish between the two sects. Some differences are minor: Shias pray with their hands by their sides, Sunnis with their hands crossed at their chest or stomach. Others are significant. Shias, for example, believe Ali and a string of his descendants, the Imams, had not only rightful political authority after Muhammad but also held a special religious wisdom. Most Shias believe there were 12 Imams — many of them "martyred" by Sunnis — and the 12th vanished, to one day return and restore justice.


 * In June 2014, bodies of 44 Sunni prisoners were found in a government-controlled police station in Baquba, about 40 miles north of Baghdad. They had all been shot Monday night in the head or chest. Then the remains of four young men who had been shot were found dumped Tuesday on a street in a Baghdad neighborhood controlled by Shiite militiamen.


 * In Baghdad, bodies arrive in twos and threes most every day in the morgue, a grim barometer of the city’s sectarian tensions. Most have gunshot wounds to the head, some have signs of torture, and most of them are Sunnis.


 * Shia militias kill at least 68 in attack on Sunni mosque in Iraq.