BAGHDAD Saturday (AFP) – A wave of bombs targeting Shiite Muslim worshippers at mosques across Baghdad killed 29 people and wounded more than 136 on Friday a month after US troops withdrew from Iraq's main urban centres.Security officials said the six apparently coordinated blasts, occurred outside mosques and prayer centres in and around the capital, including one frequented by followers of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
An Iraqi woman reacts after learning of her son's death who was killed in a blast outside Al-Shurufi mosque. |
The most devastating attack was in the northeastern district of Al-Shaab, where a car bombing killed 23 people and wounded 107 others, an interior ministry official said.
The mosque itself is occupied by Iraqi special forces, and before the bomb exploded worshippers, many of them loyal to Sadr, were praying between the building itself and the parking lot.
Witnesses said worshippers had told local police of their suspicions regarding a 1980s Volkswagen Passat, but they were assured the vehicle was safe. The bomb exploded a short while later, with witnesses saying local police then panicked and began firing their guns randomly, inadvertently killing three of the 23 who died.
Meanwhile, in twin bombings at Al-Rasoul Al-Adham mosque at Diyala bridge, 10 kilometres (six miles) south of Baghdad, five people were killed and 15 wounded as they left Friday prayers. |
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