Deadly attacks on Shi’ite targets in Baghdad

A large number of people have been killed in two bomb attacks on Shi’ite mosques in Baghdad. According to some accounts, at least 17 died and many more were injured in the first blast. Other reports suggest the death toll is at least 30.

Witnesses say a man wearing a belt laden with explosives blew himself up in the first mosque, in the southern Doura district of the Iraqi capital. The second attack was apparently carried out by mortar and killed several people at a mosque in the west of the capital. The bombings come as Shi’ites around the country celebrate Ashura. The ceremony marks the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. Last year the event was also hit by attacks which killed more than 170 people. They were blamed on Sunni extremists.

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