Death toll from mosque bombing up to eight

A car bomb killed at least eight people outside a Sunni mosque in Baghdad today and gunmen abducted a Sunni cleric, raising sectarian tensions as the election commission gave the final go-ahead for talks to begin in earnest on a new government.

The blast occurred about 10 metres from the Iskan al-Shaabi mosque in the tense Dora neighbourhood, shattering windows and showering glass on worshippers at the main weekly Muslim prayer service.