Iraq: 7 Martyred, 20+ Injured in Mosque Blast in Eastern Baghdad

By Staff, Agencies

A bomb blast caused the martyrdom of seven people at a Shiite mosque in eastern Baghdad Friday and wounded more than 20, police sources said.

The explosion took place in the Baladiyat neighborhood. A senior police source said that either a suicide belt or improvised explosive device had been used in the attack, for which there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The source said the death toll was expected to rise with many of those wounded in serious condition.

It was a rare attack on a Shiite place of worship in the Iraqi capital.

Takfiri extremists carried out high-profile bombings of Iraqi Shiite sites during the worst of the country's violence after the US invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Baghdad's security improved significantly with the defeat of the Wahhabi Daesh [Arabic acronym for “ISIS” / “ISIL”] in 2017 and bomb attacks of any kind in the city have been rare since then.