Death toll from mosque bombing up to eight
A car bomb killed at least eight people outside a Sunni mosque in Baghdad today and gunmen abducted a Sunni cleric, raising sectarian tensions as the election commission gave the final go-ahead for talks to begin in earnest on a new government.
The blast occurred about 10 metres from the Iskan al-Shaabi mosque in the tense Dora neighbourhood, shattering windows and showering glass on worshippers at the main weekly Muslim prayer service.
At least 21 people were injured, according to Dr Muhannad Jawad of Yarmouk General Hospital.
Pools of blood lay in the street, indicating that most of the dead were outside the mosque.
About an hour later, several masked gunmen shouting “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great,” arrived in two cars and began shooting at people standing outside the mosque, witnesses said.
An Associated Press photographer saw two bystanders gunned down by the masked men, one of whom held a pistol to the head of the woman. The photographer fled, but police later said the woman was killed and two men were wounded.
Also today, the US military said two American Marines were killed the day before by a roadside bomb near Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad.
At least 2,269 US military personnel have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
No group claimed responsibility for the mosque attack, and it was unclear whether the gunmen were the ones responsible for the car bomb. Dora has been the scene of numerous attacks by Sunni insurgents against Shiite police and soldiers, and the violence could have been carried out by Shiite militants in retaliation.
“Terrorists are trying to drive a wedge between Sunnis and Shiites,” said Ahmed Hassan, 36, who was praying inside the mosque when the blast occurred.
“Some worshippers were leaving and others were praying inside when the explosion blasted glass all over us,” he said. “Smoke filled the mosque. Outside we were shocked to see so many wounded people and cars on fire.”
