Nine hurt in Kufa blasts

At least nine people were hurt as explosions rocked a compound surrounding a mosque in Kufa, one of Iraq’s holy cities, today.

It is believed ammunition used by fighters loyal to rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr apparently caught fire.

Flames and smoke rose above the building, and secondary explosions could be heard.

Firefighters and ambulances raced to the scene, where fighters in al-Sadr’s al-Madhi army had been holed up.

Riyadh Moussa, a militiaman who had been sleeping in the compound, said he heard a “whoosh of a missile in the air” and a strong thud when a projectile hit the storage area.

“I’m sure it was the Americans who did it,” he said. ”We have no other enemies.”

A spokesman for the US-led coalition said no forces were near the mosque at the time of the blast.

Iraqi police took small arms fire when they tried to approach to see what was going on after the explosions took place, the US military said.

The mosque had been the site of nearly daily clashes between American troops and al-Sadr’s forces.

However, the site had been peaceful since Thursday under a deal meant to end the fighting.

Under the plan, al-Sadr’s al-Mahdi Army is supposed to pull back from the Islamic shrines in Kufa and its twin city Najaf and hand over security to Iraqi police.

The US army acceded to a request from the local governor to keep troops away from the Kufa mosque, where al-Sadr preaches, to give Iraqi security forces a chance to ease tensions.

Al-Mahdi army members were gathering outside the mosques today, some armed with rifles, and stopped reporters from approaching the mosque.

At the Furat al-Awsat hospital in Kufa, Mohammed Abdul-Kadhim, a nurse, said that nine people were brought in with injuries from the explosions, mostly burns.

The injured included both civilians and militiamen, he said.

However, the number of the injured may be higher since the al-Mahdi militia is known not to take their injured to the local hospitals.