Dozens killed in Iraq suicide bomb attack

Blast targeted Shia mosque where funeral was being held for a politician killed a day earlier, at least 35 killed.

Iraq bomber
The suicide bombing came in a wave attacks to hit Iraq after a period of relative calm Reuters]

A suicide bomb in the middle of a funeral at a Shia mosque in northern Iraq has killed at least 35 people and wounded 75 others, according to security and medical officials.

Wednesday’s blast struck at the Sayida al-Shuhada mosque in Tuz Khurmatu, 175km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, and targeted the funeral of a relative of a politician who was killed a day earlier.

“Corpses are on the ground of the Husseiniyah (Shia mosque),” said Shallal Abdul, mayor of Tuz Khurmatu.

“The suicide bomber managed to enter and blow himself up in the middle of the mourners.”

No group claimed responsibility of the attack, which comes after more than four weeks of anti-government protest.

Among the wounded was Ali Hashem Mukhtar, the deputy chief of the Iraqi Turkman Front and a provincial councillor in Salaheddin province.

The funeral had been for Mukhtar’s brother-in-law, who was shot dead in Tuz Khurmatu on Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday’s suicide bomb came after a wave of attacks in and around Baghdad and in northern Iraq that killed 26 people and wounded dozens more, shattering a relative calm after a spate of deadly violence last week.

Source: News Agencies