Mosque bomber defies Baghdad crackdown, kills 10

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber killed at least 10 people inside a Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad yesterday, police said, a day after the national security adviser said al Qaeda's days are numbered in Iraq.

The blast, which also wounded 25 people, rocked the Buratha mosque as worshippers gathered for Friday prayers.

It was the type of violence that slain al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's successor had vowed would never relent in a war against Iraq's Shi'ites and the US-backed government.

Shortly after the mosque blast, mortar bombs hit houses and shops on the edge of Baghdad, killing at least three people.

The man who is believed to be the new al Qaeda boss in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, vowed three days ago to avenge the death of Zarqawi, who was killed by a US air strike last week.

Friday's mosque violence came just two days after the government launched what it said would be a security crackdown with 50,000 Iraqi forces backed by 7000 US forces designed to put more pressure on al Qaeda.

It's not the first time a suicide bomber has killed at the Buratha mosque. On April 7, three suicide bombers dressed as women attacked the same mosque, killing at least 71 people.

US and Iraqi officials described Zarqawi's death as a great victory against "terrorism" but they say it will not end a brutal campaign of suicide bombings, shootings and beheadings.

Yesterday Iraq's national security adviser Mowaffaq al- Rubaie told a televised news conference security forces had seized al Qaeda in Iraq documents giving key information about the militant group's network and the whereabouts of its leaders.

"We believe this is the beginning of the end of al Qaeda in Iraq," he said.

The Pentagon said yesterday that the number of US military deaths in Iraq has reached 2500 more than three years into a conflict that finds US-led forces locked in a struggle with a resilient Sunni Arab insurgency, including al Qaeda.

US President George W. Bush has refused to set a deadline for withdrawing 130,000 American troops, saying it depends on the performance of Iraqi forces.

Allegations that US Marines massacred up to 24 unarmed civilians in the town of Haditha last year have further eroded popular support for the Iraq war.

Earlier on Friday, the US military said army criminal investigators were probing the deaths last month of three men in the custody of US-led forces in Iraq.

Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, the number two US commander in Iraq, ordered the investigation of the deaths which occurred on or around May 9 in Salahaddin province.

"The request for an investigation is the result of soldiers' reported suspicions about the deaths," said a military statement. It did not elaborate.

- REUTERS