At least 13 killed in attack at Baghdad mosque

BAGHDAD - At least 13 people were killed and 22 wounded in an attack at a Shi'ite mosque in southern Baghdad on Friday, hospital and police sources said.

Survivors said a man wearing a suicide belt blew himself up in the mosque in the Doura district of southwestern Baghdad as worshippers marked Ashura, an holy Shi'ite religious ceremony.

Police initially thought it was an attack by rocket-propelled grenades, but later said it had been a suicide bomb. The US military was not immediately reachable for comment.

The dead and wounded were taken to Yarmouk hospital, one of Baghdad's busiest, where family and friends filled the corridors.

Thousands of Shi'ites marched through Baghdad on Friday to mark Ashura, a ceremony commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, in 680 A.D.

Fears of suicide bombings and other attacks have remained high in the run up to Ashura, which climaxes on Saturday. Last year, more than 170 people were killed in suicide bombings in Baghdad and Kerbala during the ceremony.

- REUTERS