Blast rocks Iraqi mosque

An explosion has rocked a mosque in the Iraqi town of Fallujah, killing at least five civilians and injuring four others.

Iraqi civilians said the blast was caused by a missile or bomb strike, but US soldiers at the scene say it was probably caused when explosives hidden at the site went off.

The incident is likely to increase tension in the town - already the scene of several confrontations between US soldiers and anti-American insurgents.

Witnesses said the blast occurred just before 11pm on Monday in a small cinderblock building in the courtyard of the mosque. The explosion blew out the walls and ceiling.

About a dozen Iraqis gathered around the blast site on Tuesday morning, sifting through the rubble for pieces of metal they said proved the damage was caused by an American attack.

"These are pieces of a missile," said Aqeel Ibrahim Ali, 26, who was standing on a concrete slab overlooking the destruction, holding out a box filled with metal shards. "An airplane shot a missile."

But Sergeant Thomas McMurtry, a reservist with the 346th Tactical Psychological Operations Company, said there was no evidence the explosion was caused by a US attack.

"They did it to themselves. Clearly, the physical evidence does not support that (a missile strike) in any way," he said. "Whatever blew up was just sitting inside there. There is no evidence that it was anything else but a ground based explosive."

Sgt McMurtry said he is a former special forces engineer with munitions training. He said if the explosion had been caused by a bomb or missile, there would be evidence of shrapnel.

He added US army ordnance disposal personnel had scanned the wreckage and saw no evidence of a missile strike.