Ayatollah: US forces plotted attack on shrine

Iran's supreme leader on Friday accused the US-led forces in Iraq of plotting and extremist Sunni groups of carrying out this week's bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in Samarra, saying the attack sought to provoke civil war in Iraq. Thousands of Iranians held street protests after weekly Friday prayers in Teheran and other cities to denounce the bombing, which toppled the minarets of the revered al-Askariya shrine. Some shouted slogans outside the British Embassy, burning US, British and Israeli flags.