Second Sunni mosque bombed

A Sunni mosque was levelled by an explosion today in Basra, police and witnesses said – the second such attack in as many days, in apparent retaliation for the toppling of minarets at a prized Shiite shrine in Samarra.

Bombers loaded into pickup trucks pulled up to the al-Ashrah al-Mubashra mosque in Basra’s al-Hakimiya district at dawn, residents in nearby houses said. Minutes after they left, a huge explosion tore through the building, levelling it completely.