Chaos at Baghdad Mosque Blast Site
Created: 2011-08-30 09:00 EST
Category: World > Middle East / Africa
Embed:
Gunfire outside the Umm al-Qura Mosque in Baghdad's western Ghazaliya district.
Children were here playing when a bomber - who posed as a beggar and wore a cast on his arm - killed at least 24 people inside the Sunni mosque.
As news crews enter the mosque's main hall the floor is stained with blood - trails of blood where blast victims had been carried outside, and the remains of those killed.
One Sunni leader says he narrowly escaped with his life.
[Ahmed Abdul Ghafour Al-Samarrai, Head of the Sunni Endowment]:
"I walked two meters back to give instructions by microphone, then he blew himself up. The bodyguards prevented him from approaching me."
The blast went off as Sunni worshippers finished their evening prayers - one day before the holy month of Ramadan ends.
The mosque is an important Sunni religious site, and is frequented by top Iraqi Sunni leaders.
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