Bomb Kills 8 At Baghdad Mosque

20 Injured In Attack During Midday Prayers

(CBS/AP)  A car bomb exploded during Friday prayers at a Shiite mosque in Baghdad, killing eight people and wounding 20, police said.

The blast happened during midday prayers at Al-Subeih mosque, in the capital's eastern New Baghdad neighborhood, said police Col. Ahmed Aboud. Witnesses said a car parked outside the building since the morning exploded.

One section of the mosque collapsed, and frantic worshippers in blood-spattered clothes searched through the rubble for loved ones, as wailing women beat their chest in grief. Body parts littered the ground. One man clutched a child's foot, shaking and weeping.

"I was inside the mosque when the explosion happened, and I saw many dead and injured," said another worshipper, grocery store owner Abdelallah Faraj. "This is a cowardly and savage act that aims to create conflict among Iraqis."

Police sealed off the area. The U.S. military had no immediate comment.

Shiite mosques and funerals have become a frequent target of Sunni-led insurgents. In February, suicide bombers attacked a number of them during the Shiite commemoration of Ashoura, killing nearly 100 people.

The violence was part of a surge of dramatic attacks that have caused heavy casualties in recent weeks, ending a relative lull since Jan. 30 elections.

In other developments:

In northern Iraq, a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. Army patrol Friday, killing one soldier and wounding another, the military said. The early morning attack happened north of Tal Afar, a city about 90 miles east of the Syrian border, which has seen frequent clashes between U.S. and Iraqi forces.

Thursday, a roadside bomb exploded on the highway leading to Baghdad's airport, severely damaging three SUVs carrying civilians. Police Capt. Hamid Ali said two foreigners were killed and three were wounded. U.S. Embassy and military officials could not confirm the casualties.

In Ramadi, a roadside bomb wounded one soldier in a U.S. convoy. Another American soldier fired his machine gun at a suspected Iraqi ambush site, killing a female Iraqi civilian, U.S. officials said in a statement. Soldiers found an electronic device near the woman that may have been used to trigger the explosion, the statement said.

Hours later, gunfire erupted in Baghdad, and an Associated Press photographer saw the body of a young boy in a street near three smoldering cars. Sporadic gunfire continued for about two hours, said the photographer, Bilal Hussein. When it subsided, Iraqis pulled the charred body of an adult from one of the burned cars, Hussein said. It was not clear how the two were killed.

In Washington, the Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved $81 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in a spending bill that would push the total cost of combat and reconstruction past $300 billion. The Pentagon says it needs the money by the first week of May, so Senate and House negotiators are expected to act quickly to send the president a final bill.

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©MMV CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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