Two killed in Mosque bomb attack

An explosion outside a mosque in Baghdad today killed two people and injured 30, witnesses and hospital workers said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the blast near the al-Samarrai mosque, although witnesses said it was a bomb planted by the side of the street.

Most of the casualties were passengers on a bus which was badly damaged in the blast.

Karim Abdullah Muslim, the head of the emergency department at al-Kindi hospital said a man and a woman were killed in the explosion and that 13 people were injured.

A blast destroyed an American armoured personnel carrier in Mishada, 20 miles north of the capital, and US troops cordoned off part of the main road.

The US military said the fire that engulfed the military vehicle was accidental. Captain Brian Ridely said the explosion was caused by a faulty heater, which caused ammunition inside the vehicle to explode. There were no casualties, he said.