Bombers kill 77 at Iraq mosques

BAGHDAD - Two suicide bombers strapped with explosives killed 77 people and reduced two crowded Shi'ite mosques to rubble during prayers in a northeastern Iraq town.

More bodies were trapped in the rubble, said Ibrahim Ahmed Bajalan, a member of the local council in Khanaqin. "I think there are more than 100 people dead," he said. Another lesser blast was reported near a bank in the town, police said.

Kamaran Ahmed, the director of Khanaqin hospital, said 77 people had been confirmed killed and 80 were wounded. He said many bodies were too badly mutilated to identify. The death toll rose steadily through the day but looked to be stabilising.

The attacks in the mixed Shi'ite and Kurdish town near the border with Iran seemed certain to fuel sectarian tensions ahead of a December 15 election that Washington hopes will pave the way for peace and democracy 2-1/2 years after the US-led invasion.

The Shi'ite and Kurdish-led government and its US backers are fighting a mainly Sunni Arab insurgency that has frequently blown up civilians in crowded places like mosques and markets.

Police said the bombers entered the small Sheikh Murad and Khanaqin Grand mosques with explosive belts strapped to their waists and detonated themselves when the buildings were at their busiest -- during prayers on the Muslim holy day.

Earlier this month, nearly 30 people were killed at a Shi'ite mosque in the town of Musayyib, south of Baghdad.

Kurdish peshmerga militia forces sealed off Khanaqin shortly after the blasts, and US forces also came to help, ferrying the wounded to hospitals in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya.

In Baghdad earlier on Friday, two suicide truck bombs failed to pierce the perimeter of a major hotel and destroyed an apartment block instead, killing at least six people, including two children, police said.

Police said at least 40 were also wounded in the near simultaneous blasts at the Hamra Hotel. There were no reports of foreign casualties. Witnesses at the hotel said body parts were found in the swimming pool and in the street outside.

Security camera footage showed a white van driving up to blast walls at the perimeter of the hotel complex and exploding. About 20 seconds later the second explosion blew out the camera.

The nearby apartment building was reduced to rubble and about 20 cars were destroyed.

Firefighters and soldiers searched for those trapped under the wreckage, and distraught women in black veils beat their brows as they surveyed the sweep of destruction.

US Colonel Ed Cardon told reporters at the scene the plan had appeared to be for the first vehicle to open a path for the second, which would breach the defences and cause more damage.

"Instead, what happened is both trucks blew up right here and did tremendous damage to this apartment building right here, wounding scores of innocent people," he said.

It was the second major attack on high-profile hotels in Baghdad in a month. The Sheraton and Palestine hotels were hit in late October.

About three hours later, US troops blew up a suspected car bomb in the same area.

The Hamra is a few hundred yards (metres) from a secret Interior Ministry bunker raided on Sunday by US forces who found 170 prisoners, mostly Sunni Arabs, many of whom had apparently been beaten, starved and tortured.

Local residents were furious over the attack.

"They targeted Shi'ite houses here regardless of the hotel and they did not target the shelter (bunker). I had to pull a 15-year-old girl from the rubble," said Hameed Taha.

United Nations human rights chief Louise Arbour on Friday called for an international inquiry into Iraqi jails because of the abuse scandal.

- REUTERS