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Explosion rocks Baghdad mosque
Tue 9 December, 2003 08:39

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An explosion has rocked a Sunni mosque in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on the same day a blast near Mosul injured 31 American soldiers.

Local Baghdad residents said there may be several casualties from the mosque blast.

U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Frank German said on the scene that the explosion occurred shortly after dawn and appeared to have been inside the Ahbab al-Mustafa mosque in central Baghdad.

German had no details on casualties.

Local residents said several people had died, although that could not be immediately confirmed.

"An explosion rocked the mosque around 6:45 a.m. (3.45 a.m. British time) in the morning. I went to the roof of my house and after three minutes I heard a second explosion," said Ahmed Abdullah, a local resident.

There was blood on the ground inside the mosque.

"When we arrived the flames had been extinguished, we set up a security zone and began the investigations," German said. "As far as we can tell there was an internal explosion inside the mosque."

In the north of Iraq 31 U.S. soldiers were wounded after a car believed to be driven by a suicide bomber exploded at the entrance to their base.

Major Trey Cate of the 101st Airborne Division said soldiers at the base in Tal Afar, west of the city of Mosul, fired on the vehicle when it failed to stop at an entry point.

The vehicle then blew up, he said. "The vehicle did not stop, so soldiers fired on it. It then detonated. None of the injuries are life-threatening," said Cate, adding it appeared to be a suicide bomb attack.