BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq saw no let-up in violence as the world's 1.2 billion Muslims marked the start of the holy month Ramadan, with a Sunni sheikh who spearheaded a fight against Al-Qaeda killed by a bomb on Thursday.
The world's most populous Muslim nation Indonesia was also in mourning at the beginning of the holiest month of the Muslim calendar after a huge earthquake rocked the island of Sumatra killing at least 10 people.
Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Reesha, a key US ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda's Iraq affiliate in the Sunni Arab heartland west of the capital, was blow up near his home in the city of Ramadi.
The sheikh had shaken hands with US President George W. Bush when he visited Iraq just 10 days ago, and White House spokeswoman Dana Perino called his murder an "outrage."
Another four people were killed in the Iraqi capital when a bomb ripped through a crowd of civilians in a public square in east Baghdad.
The Iraqi authorities had stepped up security measures for Ramadan, which has seen brutal insurgent attacks since the US-led invasion of March 2003.
To mark the Muslim holiday, US commanders said they would release 50 to 80 detainees each day of Ramadan from among the thousands held on suspicion of helping the insurgents.
The authorities in neighbouring Syria also announced that for the duration of the month they would lift visa restrictions recently imposed on Iraqis fleeing the violence in their homeland.
The exodus, which was running at some 30,000 new arrivals a month before the new restrictions, has burdened Syria with nearly 1.5 million refugees.
In Indonesia, Ramadan began under the shadow of the massive 8.4-magnitude quake which was followed by aftershocks that prompted new tsunami warnings.
Muslims in some quake-hit areas were unable to attend their regular evening prayers on Wednesday night as emergency teams assessed the damage.
"The imam had prepared for it but we cannot go to prayers as the mosque is damaged," resident Slamet Purwanto told the Detikcom online news agency from a village in Bengkulu district, among the areas worst hit.
Hundreds of kilometres (miles) away from the epicentre in Medan, Indonesia's third-largest city in North Sumatra, blackouts forced the faithful to pray by candlelight, kerosene lamps and light bulbs rigged to car batteries.
Pakistan -- whose population of 160 million is dominated by Sunnis -- was on high alert following a wave of attacks since early July in which hundreds have died.
At least 15 elite commandos were killed in a suspected suicide blast in the dining area of a high-security army camp in the northwest of the country, officials said. Eleven others were wounded, six of them seriously.
In neighbouring Afghanistan, where the Taliban had threatened to launch new attacks on government and Western military targets during Ramadan, there was no let-up in violence with nearly 60 dead in 24 hours.
Top clerics in Indian Kashmir -- scene of nearly 20 years of Muslim insurgency against New Delhi's rule -- said they would pray for peace and reconciliation in the divided Himalayan region, claimed in part by Pakistan.
In the predominantly Catholic Philippines, separatist Muslim rebels said they were ready to resume stalled peace talks with the government but also warned they were prepared for "martyrdom."
In Thailand, the army on Wednesday lifted a night curfew meant to smother a separatist insurgency in Muslim provinces, where people also began fasting on Thursday.
During Ramadan, Muslims have to abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex from dawn until dusk. Activity peaks between "iftar," the breaking of the fast at sunset, and "suhur," the last meal of the day before sunrise.
In Cairo, traffic police have been banned from taking time off, with extra wardens deployed to control pre-iftar accidents as people race home to break the daytime fast.
Gaza residents spending their first Ramadan under Hamas, which seized control of the territory in June, were bracing for clashes after Fatah and other Palestinian groups called for sunset street prayers despite a Hamas ban.
In a traditional gesture, Hamas announced the release of 84 prisoners.
Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, was preparing to receive around one million pilgrims to perform the "umrah" or smaller pilgrimage to Mecca.
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