Suicide bomber kills 20 in Iraqi Sunni mosque

BAQUBA, Iraq | Fri Jul 19, 2013 9:49am



A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a Sunni mosque in central

Iraq, killing at least 20 people in the middle of a sermon on Friday.



The explosion took place in the town of Wajihiya in the ethnically and

religiously diverse province of Diyala, which has seen an increasing

number of attacks in recent weeks.



It was unclear who was behind the blast, the latest in a campaign of

attacks that has raised fears of a return to full-blown sectarian

conflict in a country where Kurds, Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims have yet

to find a stable way of sharing power.



"I was in the first row of people praying. We were listening to the

preacher give his sermon. Suddenly, a huge explosion shook the place,"

22-year-old student Salman Ubaid told Reuters.



"I fainted and later found myself lying on the floor in Wajihiyia

hospital with some shrapnel in the head," he added.



Sectarian tensions have been inflamed by the civil war in neighboring

Syria, which has drawn in Shi'ite and Sunni fighters from Iraq and

beyond to fight on opposite sides of the conflict.



Sunni insurgents, including the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of

Iraq, have been recruiting from Iraq's Sunni minority, which resents

Shi'ite domination since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam

Hussein in 2003.



They have regained strength in recent months and strike on a regular basis.



More than 460 people have been killed in militant attacks in July so

far, according to violence monitoring group Iraq Body Count.



That is still well below the height of sectarian bloodletting of

2006-07, when the number of people killed in militant attacks

sometimes exceeded 3,000 in one month.



At that time, sectarian violence took longer to wind down in Diyala

than almost any other province in Iraq. The province is often

described as a microcosm of the country, with Shi'ite Muslims, Sunnis,

Kurds and Arabs living close together.



"The situation in Diyala is very dangerous," said lawmaker Mohammed

Othman, who is from the province.



Asked who he thought was behind the violence, Othman said it could be

Shi'ite militias or members Sunni al-Qaeda, attacking members of their

own sect to provoke a reaction. "The goal is to widen the gap between

people and return Iraq to civil conflict," he added.



Separately, a suicide bomber tried to enter a Shi'ite mosque in

Jbeila, north of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad. He failed

and blew himself up, killing a policeman who had blocked his way.



Another policeman was killed in an almost identical incident on

Thursday night in the town of Iskandariya, also north of Hilla, police

said.

Copyright (Reuters)