Aftermath of blast near mosque that killed at least 16 people
(14 Jul 2013) AP TELEVISION 1. Wide of damaged building 2. Mid of building with residents gathered on street near blast site 3. Various of shards of glass on ground 4. Close up of blood on a piece of cardboard left on ground 5. Close up of broken signage 6. Wide of men looking at blast site 7. Various of crater left by blast 8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abu Mariam, eyewitness: ''After special late-evening prayers held during Ramadan, as worshippers were leaving the mosque, a bomb exploded. So many people, most of them children and young boys, were killed.'' 9. Wide of men standing around blast site 10. Low angle of broken glass at the blast scene STORYLINE: Local residents on Sunday were assessing the damage following a bomb blast near the Khalid bin al-Walid mosque in Baghdad's southern Dora neighbourhood late on Saturday that left at least 16 people dead and 31 wounded. Police said the blast went off around 10 pm (1900 GMT) on Saturday near the gate of the mosque in a largely Sunni Muslim area. It struck just after the end of special late-evening prayers held during Ramadan. The blast was one of two explosions outside Sunni mosques in Baghdad late on Saturday, in total killing at least 21 people leaving prayers and extending a wave of increased daily violence rippling across Iraq since the start of the holy month of Ramadan. ''After special late-evening prayers held during Ramadan, as worshippers were leaving the mosque, a bomb exploded," said eyewitness, Abu Mariam, near the Khalid bin al-Walid mosque. "So many people, most of them children and young boys, were killed.'' The pace of the bloodshed has picked up since Ramadan began on Wednesday, including a suicide bombing at a coffee shop in the northern city of Kirkuk late on Friday that killed dozens. There has been no claim of responsibility for the recent wave of attacks. Sunni extremists, including al-Qaida's Iraq branch, frequently target Shiites, security forces and civil servants in an effort to undermine the Shiite-led government in Baghdad. They also could be behind Saturday's attack on the Sunni mosques, hoping that the bombings will spark a sectarian backlash against Shiites. Shiite militias, which have been remobilising and sending fighters to confront mostly Sunni rebels in neighbouring Syria, also could be to blame. Iraq is weathering its worst eruption of violence in half a decade, raising fears the country is heading back toward the widespread sectarian fighting that peaked in 2006 and 2007. More than 2,600 people have been killed since the start of April. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
