Car bomb at Shi’ite mosque in Baghdad kills 11

BAGHDAD - A car bomb blast ripped through a Shi'ite mosque in eastern Baghdad on Friday, killing 11 people in the latest attack amid tensions between Iraq's Sunnis and majority Shi'ites.

The blast, which occurred as prayers were ending at al-Subeih mosque, destroyed part of the building and burst a water tank. Large red pools formed as blood mixed with the water, Reuters Television pictures showed.

There have been more than a dozen attacks on Shi'ite and Sunni mosques over the past year-and-a-half, fuelling tensions between the country's two main Muslim sects.

"I was rushing to the mosque in my car for Friday prayers when I heard a big blast," Wameed Mohammed told Reuters Television. "I ran inside and started carrying the bodies of those who were killed. My clothes were covered in blood."

A bus parked nearby was destroyed, although no one was in it when the bomb exploded.

A hospital official put the death toll at 11 and said 17 other people were wounded.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

"It was a blast ... targeting Friday prayers and they did it to start (Sunni-Shi'ite) factional fighting," said witness Ahmed Rubaie.

Iraq's new leaders are struggling to form a government that balances the interests of Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds after decades of iron-fisted rule by Saddam Hussein.

Tensions between the communities have grown sharply since January 30 national assembly elections. The Shi'ites, long oppressed by Saddam, are now the most powerful political force along with the Kurds. Under Saddam, Sunni Arabs were favoured.

In the latest guerrilla attack on Iraqi security forces, five National Guardsmen were found killed execution-style near Baiji, a town about 180km north of Baghdad, police said.

Two US Marines were killed by a roadside bomb near Ramadi, about 100km west of Baghdad, the US military said, bringing to 1184 the number of American personnel killed in action since the US-led March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Two civilians were killed by roadside bombs in Baquba, about 45km north of the capital, police said.

A bomb in the southern city of Basra wounded seven police officers, police said.

Guerrillas had threatened to kill three Romanian journalists kidnapped in Iraq unless Romania withdrew its troops within four days, Al Jazeera television reported, airing a video tape of the hostages.

The grainy black-and-white video broadcast by the Arabic-language satellite channel showed the three journalists, two men and a woman, sitting on the ground, guarded by masked men with guns. The hostages appeared to be handcuffed.

The video also showed two men pointing guns at the head of a fourth hostage, Mohamad Munaf, the journalists' translator.

More than 150 foreigners have been seized in Iraq over the past year. Most have been freed after talks or the payment of ransoms but about a third have been killed.

The violence and hostage-taking have increased pressure on Iraq's new leaders to deliver on promises to improve security after the January 30 national assembly elections.

Some Iraqi officials say the inability of the new leaders to form a government nearly three months after the elections may be encouraging insurgents by creating the impression of weakness and indecision.

- REUTERS