Deaths in northern Iraq attacks

At least nine people killed in multiple blasts targeting Shia worshippers and security forces in north of the country.

Deadly blasts north of Baghdad
Friday's attack in Mosul targeted worshippers at a mosque belonging to the Shabak minority [Reuters]

A suicide bomber driving a lorry has attacked a Shia Muslim mosque in northern Iraq, killing at least two people, police and health officials said.

Friday’s attack injured more than 50 and came at the end of Friday of prayers at the mosque belonging to the Shabak minority in Mosul, 390km north of the capital, Baghdad.

“A suicide car bomber targeted a Shabak mosque in Mwafaqiya village,” Hanin Qaddo, a local Shabak leader, said.

“Part of the mosque building collapsed over the heads of the worshippers as they were leaving.”

A wave of attacks on mainly Shia pilgrims and religious sites in recent months has increased worries about sectarian
violence as Iraq’s Shia, Sunni and Kurdish leaders struggle to end a crisis over their fragile power-sharing agreement.

There has been at least one major bombing per month since December.

July was the bloodiest month in two years, including one day of attacks that left more than 100 dead.

Elsewhere in the country, two attacks left seven Iraqi security members and fighters dead on Friday, according to officials.

The first attack in the town of Dujail, took place when armed men opened fire on a group of so-called Sahwa [Awakening] fighters manning a checkpoint.

Hours later, a roadside bomb exploded on a police patrol in Muqdadiyah, 90km north of Baghdad.

Three policemen were killed and two were wounded in that blast, the officials said.

The Sahwa are Sunni Arabs who joined forces with the US military to fight al-Qaeda’s Iraq branch at the height of the country’s conflict.

Source: News Agencies