Eurasia Press & News
Three Sunni mosques in Haswa were attacked Sunday, a day after a suicide bombing of a Shiite shrine in that city.A Sunni mosque was bombed Sunday morning and then burned, according to Capt. Muthana Ahmed, a spokesman for the Babil province police. Two people were injured.Later, Ahmed said, armed men attacked two other Sunni mosques in the area. Clashes broke out between gunmen and Iraqi security forces, who were aided by American soldiers, wire services reported. Police found two roadside bombs near one of those mosques and defused them, Ahmed said.
Haswa is a predominantly Shiite city about 30 miles south of Baghdad.
Iraqi police would not comment Sunday on whether the attacks on the Sunni mosques were in retaliation for the bombing at the Shiite mosque Saturday, in which 11 people were killed.
The Sunday attack blew a hole in the minaret of the Sunni mosque in Haswa, but the mosque was empty and no deaths or injuries were reported, according to the Associated Press.
The deadliest attack that took place in Baghdad Saturday occurred when a suicide bomber drove a truck loaded with construction materials — and explosives — past a checkpoint and into the parking lot of a Dora neighborhood police station, where construction work was underway. Iraqi police had said at least 20 people died in the blast
The U.S. military on Sunday put the death toll at 33 Iraqi police officers and said another 44 people, including 20 police officers, were wounded. There were no coalition soldiers stationed at the police compound, the military said.
Also, Iraqi police and U.S. forces on Saturday discovered a weapons cache containing 470 anti-tank mines, the U.S. military said Sunday. The Iraqi police had received a tip from an Iraqi citizen about the location of the cache, the military said.
