29 killed in mosque blasts

BOMBS exploded near five Shiite mosques in Baghdad, killing at least 29 people, in an apparent co-ordinated attack that targeted worshippers leaving Friday prayers, Iraqi police and hospital officials said.

The bombings shattered a period of relative calm in the Iraqi capital, raising to at least 306 the number of Iraqis killed in the month since the war began.

The deadliest attack yesterday came when a car bomb exploded near a Shiite mosque in the northern Baghdad neighbourhood of Shaab, killing at least 24.