A suicide bomber rammed a car into a Shia mosque in central Iraq yesterday, bringing down part of the building and killing at least 26 worshippers celebrating the start of Ramadan.
The attack in Hilla, 60 miles south of Baghdad, bore the hallmarks of Sunni radicals waging holy war on Shias, who were ushered to power by the US invasion.
The bomber struck at dusk as the Shia faithful gathered for Ramadan prayers, a day after Sunni Muslims marked the same occasion.
At least 87 people were wounded, and police said they feared the death toll of 26 could rise as rescuers with a bulldozer continued to dig through the rubble overnight.
Hilla, the mainly Shia capital of Babil province, has seen some of the worst sectarian attacks, including a car bomb in February that killed 125 people. Shia leaders have called on the long oppressed 60-per cent majority not to respond to attacks that some say are designed to spark a civil war.
The latest attack came after parliament, under US and UN pressure, reversed a ruling on next week's constitutional referendum to appease moderate Sunni leaders.
But Sunni Arab politicians said they might still urge a boycott of the October 15th vote in protest at US military operations this week against al-Qaeda guerrillas in western Iraq that they said were causing civilian casualties.