Ashura suicide bomber kills 12 near Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Jan 30 (Reuters) A suicide bomber blew himself up among Shi'ite worshippers killing 12 people marking the climax of the Ashura religious festival in a town east of Baghdad today, police said.

Police said the worshippers had gathered outside a Shi'ite mosque in Mandali, a town close to the Iranian border, when a man wearing an explosives vest blew himself up. The blast wounded several people, they said.

Earlier, a bomb killed nine people and wounded 30 when it exploded as a procession for Ashura travelled through the streets of the mixed town of Khanaqin, northeast of Baghdad.

Another bombing killed three people at a Shi'ite mosque.

All the bombings were in the mixed Diyala province, an insurgent stronghold where sectarian attacks are common.

Reuters SSC GC1603