11 dead in Kirkuk mosque bomb attack

11 dead in Kirkuk mosque bomb attack
Tue Oct 15, 2013 11:54:47

A bomb has ripped through a crowd of worshippers as they left a mosque in Iraq after prayers marking the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, killing 11 people.

The blast, which was carried out in the northern city of Kirkuk on Tuesday, also wounded 22 people, police and a doctor said.

Bodies, their clothes covered in blood, were placed in the back of a small police pickup truck to be taken away. Bright red blood stained the street.

Angry and grieving worshippers railed against those who carried out the attack, shouting, "God, take revenge on those who are evil!"

Eid al-Adha, which commemorates the willingness of Prophet Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic) to sacrifice his son at God's command, is one of the biggest Muslim holiday of the year.

Almost nothing is safe from attack by militants in Iraq, where violence has reached a level not seen since 2008 when the country was just emerging from a brutal conflict.

Secure targets such as prisons have been struck in past months, along with cafes, markets, mosques, football fields as well as weddings and funerals.

The increasing number of attacks on religious gatherings has raised fears of a relapse into the intense bloodshed that killed thousands of people in 2006-2007.

NTJ/BA

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