A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a Shiite mosque in the northern city of Mosul on Thursday, killing at least 37 people, hospital officials said. "As we were inside the mosque, we saw a ball of fire and heard a huge explosion," said Tahir Abdullah Sultan, 45. "After that blood and pieces of flesh were scattered around the place."
The attack took place in the northeastern Tameem neighborhood during a funeral, witnesses said.
Earlier, gunmen shot dead five policemen in a drive-by shooting in the Iraqi capital Thursday. The gunmen in two cars opened fire on a vehicle carrying Col. Ahmed Abeis, the head of a police station in central Baghdad, killing him and four of his guards, said police Capt. Talib Thamir. In Kirkuk, gunmen killed an accountant working for KurdSat, Brig. Saraht Qadir said. The television station belongs to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two main Kurdish parties.
On the political front, Iraq's clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance and a Kurdish coalition have struck a deal that will allow a new government to be named when the National Assembly convenes next week, officials in both political groups said Thursday.
© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
