BAGHDAD, 8 April 2006 — Suicide bombers — one of whom was dressed as a woman — blasted worshippers as they left a Shiite mosque after Friday prayer services, killing at least 79 people and wounding more than 160 in the deadliest attack in Iraq this year.
The horrific attack at the Buratha mosque, affiliated with the country’s main Shiite political party, is likely to further stoke tensions between Shiites and Sunnis. The US ambassador warned that sectarian civil war in Iraq could enflame the entire Middle East. Police Lt. Col. Falah Al-Mohammedawi said the blasts were caused by two suicide attackers, one of whom was clad in a black abaya, the full-length robe worn by women. It was unclear whether the attacker was a man wearing women’s robe to better conceal the explosives.
Jalal Eddin Al-Sagheer, the preacher at the mosque and one of the country’s leading politicians, said there were three assailants. One came through the women’s security checkpoint and blew up first, he said.
Al-Sagheer, who was not injured, said another raced into the mosque’s courtyard while a third tried to enter his office before they both detonated their explosives.
However, Al-Mohammedawi insisted there were two attackers. An Associated Press photographer at the scene saw evidence of two blasts — one at the outer wall surrounding the compound and another at the entrance to the mosque building.
The attack occurred as worshippers were leaving the north Baghdad mosque after Friday prayers. It occurred several hours after the Interior Ministry warned the public to avoid crowds near mosques and markets due to a car bomb threat.
Rescuers raced to and from the mosque, ferrying bodies from the walled compound on blood-soaked wooden pushcarts and loading them on the beds of pickup trucks. City officials urged Iraqis to donate blood for those wounded.
Meanwhile, the US military reported the deaths of three more American service members, including one who died yesterday from wounds suffered in western Baghdad. Two Americans were killed Thursday, including a Marine in Anbar province.
