KARBALA.

KARBALA, Iraq (AFP) ??” Three Iraqi Shiite Muslim leaders blamed the United States and its security policies as the occupying power for the devastating attacks in Karbala and Baghdad that killed more than 180 the public

"We put the responsibility onward the occupation forces both directly and indirectly," said cleric Sayyed Ahmed Saffi, a spokesman for Iraq's chiefly influential Shiite religious leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

"Until now, it is the occupation forces responsibility because they are dealing with the Iraqi police in an unsuitable way," Saffi said, without saying whether Sistani endorsed his make notess

"The existence of the occupation encourages like attacks," he added.

At least 112 the public were killed and 235 tortureed in Karbala in a suicide attack backed at mortar fire and bombs detonated at roadsides leading to the Shiite righteous city south of Baghdad.

In the capital, at least 70 more the public were killed and 321