Shia militia attack on Sunni mosque kills 68 in eastern Iraq

Published time: August 22, 2014 13:34
Edited time: August 22, 2014 14:36

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File photo (Reuters)

Shia militia opened fire inside a Sunni mosque in Iraq’s eastern Diyala Province on Friday killing at least 68 people, Reuters reports, citing medical officials.

Earlier an Iraqi security source confirmed the shooting, adding that dozens of bodies had arrived at a hospital in the city of Baquba.

Aljazeera report a higher death toll of 73, while over 50 people were wounded in the attack during Friday prayers, AP reports.

A suicide bomber broke into the Musab bin Omair Mosque in the village of Imam Wais and detonated his explosives before gunmen rushed in and opened fire, according to an army officer and a police officer at the scene, AP reports.

Iraqi security forces and local Shia militia men ran to the scene to try and reinforce security after the attack, but they were repelled by bombs planted by the militants, which allowed them to get away.

Officials said that Islamic State fighters have been trying to convince members of two prominent Sunni tribes in the area – the Oal-Wassi and al-Jabour – to join them, so-far without success.

Wais is so far still controlled by the Iraqi government but a number of neighboring towns and villages have fallen to the Islamic State.

The attack may have been in retaliation to a roadside bomb attack at a recruitment event organized by the same Shia militia.

Attacks on mosques in Iraq have surged in recent years, with revenge killings and counter attacks contributing to the worst bloodshed in the country since the 2006-2007 sectarian civil war.

In July, Shia armed groups executed 15 Sunni Muslims and hung them from electricity poles in a public square in Baquba. Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces killed more than 255 Sunni prisoners in retaliation for the killing of Shias by the Islamic State.

Sectarian violence will undermine efforts by Iraq’s new moderate Shia Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to form a government that can unite the country against the Islamic State, which controls vast areas of the north and west of Iraq.

Iraq’s most influential Shiite cleric, grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has said the next government should be made up of people who “care about the country’s future and its citizens” regardless of their ethnic or religious background.