Sunni mosques close to protest Iraq killings

From the minarets of Baghdad, Sunni muezzins issued their five-times-a-day call to prayer but added: "Remain where you are to say your prayers."

The mosques were closed to protest recent unexplained murders of civilians and clerics from the long dominant minority community.

Some Sunni leaders have blamed the murders on a Shia militia with links to the government. Around 1,000 Sunni figures -- clerics, officials and notables -- met Saturday to demand the dismissal of Interior Minister Bayan Baqer Solagh, charging that security services under his control were behind the killings.

"We call for the creation of an independent investigation team to look into the murders (and) the torture of detainees and we demand the interior minister's dismissal," said a statement after the meeting.

But the Shia minister rejected the accusations from a community that overwhemingly boycotted the January general elections and is widely believed to provide the main backbone to the ongoing insurgency.