Suicide bombers kill 24 during 2 Shi'ite services

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By ASSOCIATED PRESS

BAGHDAD | Suicide bombers struck two Shi'ite mosques in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 24 people and wounding dozens during celebrations marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

To the north, suspected Shi'ite militiamen fatally shot six members of a Sunni family, including women and children, police reported.

Those attacks occurred four days after a series of explosions killed 32 people and wounded nearly 100 in Shi'ite areas of Baghdad, raising fears that al Qaeda in Iraq is trying to provoke Sunni-Shi'ite reprisal killings now that the last of the American "surge" troops have left the country.

In the deadliest attack, a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives about 20 yards from a mosque in Zafaraniyah in southeastern Baghdad. The blast killed 14 people, including three Iraqi soldiers, and wounded 28, police said.

The death toll would have been higher, but Iraqi soldiers prevented the attacker from driving closer to the mosque, police said.

In the other attack in the capital, a suicide bomber who appeared to be in his late teens detonated his explosive belt as worshippers were leaving the Rasoul mosque in the eastern New Baghdad district.

Ten people died and 24 were wounded, police and officials at al-Kindi and Ibn al-Nasif hospitals said. The dead included a guard who blocked the attacker from entering the mosque, police said.

The attack on the Sunni family occurred in Diyala, a heavily mixed province north of the capital. Police said gunmen sprayed the family's vehicle with automatic-weapons fire as they traveled to the provincial capital of Baqouba to visit relatives.

The dead included two children, three women and a man, police said. Another woman and her small child were wounded.

Police said that the area was controlled by mostly Shi'ite security forces and that they suspected Shi'ite militiamen were responsible for the attack.

Victims of the Baghdad attacks were attending prayers marking Eid al-Fitr, the religious holiday that comes at the end of Ramadan. Sunnis and other Shi'ite groups celebrated Eid al-Fitr earlier in the week.

Iraqi police and soldiers have been on alert for sectarian attacks around Ramadan, when devout Muslims fast from dawn until dusk and religious fervor runs high.

Last Sunday, five bombs exploded in Shi'ite areas of Baghdad, killing 32 people and wounding about 100. U.S. officials believed al Qaeda was behind the blasts.

Bloody assaults on Shi'ite civilians helped trigger the massive wave of sectarian fighting that led to President Bush's decision to dispatch nearly 30,000 reinforcements to Iraq in 2007.

The last of those "surge" troops left Iraq in July after violence in the capital dropped to its lowest level in four years.

U.S. commanders have acknowledged a small increase in attacks recently in the Baghdad area as Iraqi forces assume a greater role in security.

In a statement Thursday, U.N. special representative Staffan de Mistura expressed concern over the "recent spike in violence," urging Iraqis to maintain unity "in foiling the aims of those who want to push them back into the murderous cycle of sectarian violence."