Gunmen attack Sunni mosque in Iraq, casualties feared
Source: Reuters
BAGHDAD, March 25 (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked a Sunni mosque south of Baghdad on Sunday, setting it ablaze a day after a suicide truck bomber struck near a Shi'ite mosque in the same area, police said. Police in Hilla, close to the town of Haswa, where the attack occurred, said initial reports suggested there were casualties. Gunmen stormed the mosque in Haswa, a religiously mixed town about 50 km (35 miles) south of the Iraqi capital, and destroyed its minaret in a blast. The building was on fire, a police official said, describing it as an apparent revenge attack. A suicide truck bomber exploded near a Shi'ite mosque in Haswa on Saturday, killing nine and wounding 43, a hospital source said. The provincial health directorate put the toll at 16. Mosques and other religious buildings have been frequent targets of attack. The bombing of a revered Shi'ite shrine, the al-Askariya mosque, in the town of Samarra in February 2006 sparked a wave of sectarian fighting between Iraq's majority Shi'ites and minority Sunnis that has killed tens of thousands.
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