Saturday, July 13, 2013

Ramadan bombathon: Blast at Sunni mosque in Baghdad kills 13, wounds 35

BAGHDAD (AP) — A bomb exploded outside a Sunni mosque in Baghdad late Saturday, killing at least 13 people leaving prayers and extending a daily wave of violence rippling across Iraq since the holy month of Ramadan began.

A separate attack at a funeral northeast of Baghdad killed another three people.

Police said the Baghdad blast went off around 10 p.m. near the gate of the Khalid bin al-Walid mosque in the capital's southern Dora neighborhood, a largely Sunni Muslim area. It struck just after special late-evening prayers held during Ramadan ended.

At least 35 people were wounded in addition to those killed, police said. A hospital official confirmed the casualty toll.

Iraq is weathering its worst eruption of violence in half a decade, raising fears the country is heading back toward widespread sectarian fighting that peaked in 2006 and 2007. More than 2,600 people have been killed since the start of April.

The pace of the bloodshed has picked up since Ramadan began Wednesday, including a suicide bombing at a coffee shop in the northern city of Kirkuk late Friday that killed dozens.

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Ramadan death toll is now at 181.