BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber blew himself up in a Shia mosque north of Baghdad yesterday, the deadliest in a series of attacks that left 24 people dead nationwide days ahead of Shia commemorations.
The deadliest attack struck Taji, north of Baghdad. A suicide bomber blew himself up inside the Al Rahman mosque in the town at about 8pm, according to an interior ministry official. At least 15 people were killed and 31 others wounded in the explosion. The mosque is frequented by Shias.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The bombing comes just days before Shabaniyah ceremonies, which mark the birth of Imam Mehdi, Shia Islam’s so-called 12th imam. The commemorations are due to take place in the holy Shia shrine city of Karbala tomorrow.
Elsewhere in Iraq, a suicide car bomb and two separate shootings killed nine. In Mosul, a suicide attacker set off a vehicle rigged with explosives near a police patrol on the city’s southern outskirts. The explosion killed four people including a policeman.
And in the ethnically mixed town of Tuz Khurmatu, which lies at the heart of the area disputed between the Kurds and Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on patrolling police, killing three and wounding a fourth, security and medical officials said. The tract of land, which the Kurds want to incorporate over the objections of Baghdad, stretches from Iraq’s eastern border with Iran to its western frontier with Syria.
Diplomats and officials say the unresolved row is one of the biggest threats to Iraq’s long-term stability.
And in Tikrit, militants fired on day labourers waiting near a grain silo, killing two and wounding four, officials said. Iraq has suffered an upsurge in violence since the beginning of the year, coinciding with rising discontent among Sunnis that erupted into protests in late December.
AFP
