Shiite shrine attacked in north, 3 mosques bombed south of Baghdad

Jun 14, 2007, 7:55 GMT

Baghdad - Attacks on Sunni and Shiite holy places and mosques continued around Iraq the past 24 hours with the bombing of the shrine north of Baghdad and three mosques south of the Iraqi capital, the Iraqi Independent News Agency reported Thursday.

The agency, citing an official source, said the shrine of Imam Ali Bin Mussa al-Kazem in Thiaylib, a village north of Khalis, a city 60 kilometres north-east of Baghdad was badly damaged.

The source told the agency that unidentified armed men in cars sealed off the shrine, then planted explosives in it and detonated them Wednesday night.

The blast resulted in the total collapse of the dome and the other parts of the mosque. The attackers then escaped, the source said.

Also Wednesday night, unknown gunmen blew up three Sunni mosques south of Baghdad, a security source told the Iraqi Independent News Agency.

The three mosques of the Grand Iskandariyah Mosque, Hiteen Mosque and Abdullah Mosque in the Iskanderiyah district, 60 kilometres south of Baghdad, were brought down after attackers detonated explosives inside them, the source added.

The bombings followed on the attack at the revered Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra on Wednesday, when bombs destroyed two minarets of the mosque.

It was the second explosives attack on the mosque, which is a major holy site for Shia Muslims, after the February 2006 one which toppled the massive golden dome.

That attack sparked a wave of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites which has left thousands of dead and brought Iraq to the brink of civil war.