Suicide bomber in Iraq mosque kills 12 people

Baghdad: A suicide bomber wearing an explosives-packed vest killed 12 people and wounded 17 others in a Shiite mosque south of Baghdad at prayer time on Friday, police said.

The US military said initial reports indicated a suicide bomber killed seven worshippers and wounded 30. The attack took place a day after Iraq's parliament passed a security pact with Washington that allows US troops to remain for another three years and puts them under the control of the Baghdad government from 2009.

The mosque, 60km south of Baghdad, where the attack occurred, is mainly used by worshippers who follow the firebrand anti-American cleric Moqtada Al Sadr.

Lawmakers loyal to Al Sadr opposed the security pact to the last, demanding instead that the US forces that invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussain withdraw immediately.

The explosion happened shortly before Friday prayers were due to begin, a police source said, asking not to be identified.

Iraqi police and soldiers quickly sealed off the mosque. Violence in Iraq has dropped but suicide blasts, thought to be mainly the work of Al Qaida in Iraq, continue.