Attacks on Shiite mosques kills 29 in Baghdad

(NECN/APTV) – Daybreak on Saturday revealed the extent of damage after a string of bombings targeting Shiite worshipers in the Baghdad area during Friday prayers, killed at least 29 people. The bombings marked an apparently coordinated attack against followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr whose forces have been blamed for some of Iraq’s worst sectarian violence. The blasts shattered a recent calm and underscored warnings that suspected Sunni insurgents would step up efforts to stoke sectarian violence as the Americans draw down their forces. The largest blast was a car bombing near the al-Shoroufi mosque that killed at least 24 people and wounded nearly 30 in the northern neighbourhood of al-Shaab. The area is a former stronghold of the militia led by al-Sadr, whose forces were accused of being behind sectarian bloodshed and were routed last year in a US-backed government offensive. The mosque was seized by Iraqi security forces more than a year ago and has been used as a base after explosives and ammunition were found inside. But worshipers continued to hold weekly Friday prayer services on the street outside. Bloodied prayer rugs and sandals covered the area after the explosion. A witness said the explosives were packed inside a taxi at a nearby parking lot. Nearly simultaneous explosions struck four other Shiite mosques in Baghdad and south of the capital. Four people were killed and 17 wounded near the al-Rasoul mosque in the village of Jisr Diyala and one died and six were wounded at the al-Sadrain mosque in the southeastern Zafaraniyah neighborhood. There were further injuries outside a mosque in the Ilam neighborhood of Baghdad. All the mosques were Sadrist except the al-Hakim mosque in Kamaliyah, which belongs to a rival Shiite party. The details and casualty tolls were reported by police and hospital officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information. An al-Sadr aide, Amir al-Kenani, called it a coordinated attack against the cleric’s loyalists, blaming al-Qaida in Iraq and political parties trying to undermine the movement. Al-Sadr, who is believed to live in Iran, has ordered a cease-fire and is seeking to position himself as a political force before national elections in January. In the past, bombings blamed on Sunni insurgents would be followed by mortar attacks and execution-style killings seen as retaliation by the Shiite extremists. US military commanders have said they are optimistic the Shiites will continue to show restraint. Nobody claimed responsibility for the bombings but they bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq. The US military has anticipated that Sunni insurgents would try to re-ignite sectarian bloodshed by provoking the majority Shiites in a bid to reverse Iraq’s security gains over the past two years. The blasts shattered a period of relative calm in the Iraqi capital, raising to at least 308 the number of Iraqis killed in July, according to an Associated Press count. Only three other months, all this year, saw fewer Iraqis killed since the AP began tracking war-related fatalities in May 2005. There were 242 deaths in January, 288 in February and 225 in May. Persistent violence has raised concerns about the abilities of Iraqi security forces to maintain security gains after US troops withdrew from major urban areas on June 30.