Baghdad, Iraq - Bombs exploded near five Shiite mosques around Baghdad within 45 minutes on Friday as worshipers attended prayer services, killing at least 29 people in what appeared to be a coordinated attack against followers of the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr, Iraqi officials and a Sadr aide said.
The bombs, which the police said were hidden just outside the mosques, tore through the Friday calm in five predominantly Shiite working-class neighborhoods, three of them on the east side of the city, one in the south and one in the north.
A total of 136 people were reported wounded in the attacks, all of which took place between 12:45 p.m. and 1:30 p.m., according an official from the Interior Ministry who spoke under customary condition of anonymity.
Officials said that highest death toll was outside the Shuroofi mosque in the north, in the district of Shaab. Once controlled by a militia loyal to Mr. Sadr, the mosque had in recent years been taken over by the national police, so Sadr loyalists pray outside in the street. Initial reports indicated that 23 people died in the attack and 107 were wounded.
Shortly after the bombing, prayer mats, beads, shoes and umbrellas used for shade from the midday sun were scattered along the street. Women wailed. Witnesses said the explosion had been caused by a bomb hidden in a parked car on a road where several hundred people had gathered to pray.
“It is a horrific scene,” said Ali Riyadh, 18, who had been attending the prayers and was wearing a white robe stained with blood from people he had helped rescue. “People lost their limbs, and some had their faces blown off. I haven’t seen anything like this.”
The street, witnesses said, had been closed to traffic, and only residents of the area were permitted to park there. The National Police closed the mosque because they suspected the Sadr militia of using as a base for anti-government operations, the witnesses said.
Some of the worshipers expressed bitter anger that the national security forces had been unable to protect them and said that they believed the Sadr militia, which has largely been disbanded in recent years as the Sadrists emphasized their identity as a political and social movement, should be allowed once again to patrol.
Tariq al-Kenani, an official from the political movement loyal to Mr. Sadr, confirmed Friday afternoon that at least four of the mosques struck were connected with the movement. In a measure of the Sadrists’ anger, he accused Iraqi security forces of complicity in the attacks.
“There’s an organized campaign to liquidate Sadrists in which security forces are involved,” he said.
The second most deadly bombing Friday took place at Al Rasool Mosque in the Diyala Bridge neighborhood of east Baghdad. Five people died when two bombs exploded in quick succession there, and 15 were wounded.
While there have been numerous attacks on Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and in predominantly Shiite marketplaces, attacks on the city’s mosques have been infrequent in recent months.
On the outskirts of the volatile northern city of Kirkuk, however, 68 people died last month when a truck packed with explosives detonated outside a mosque just after Friday Prayers. Nearly 200 others were injured.
Although violence has declined significantly since the worst of Iraq’s sectarian conflict in 2006 and 2007, attacks continue almost daily against Iraqi forces, and an intermittent pattern of major attacks continues to wreak havoc, often aimed at civilians in markets and other public places.
Many of the attacks appear intended to stoke sectarian tensions or settle political scores, and all have raised concerns — and, increasingly, anger — that Iraq’s security forces are not providing sufficient security as American troops provide less support and remain outside of urban areas under the terms of the current security agreement.