adminA doctor confirmed the toll from the blast, which also wounded 40 people.
“I was sitting near the main entrance of the mosque when a huge explosion happened,” sending dirt and objects flying, said Sinan Ghalib, who later woke up in a hospital in the nearby city of Baquba with a serious wound in his left leg.
Omar Mundhir was also wounded in the leg by the explosion.
“I was sitting near the imam and the mosque was full of dozens of people when a big explosion happened, and the place went completely dark,” Mundhir said, also in hospital.
“I found myself on the ground at the hospital later, with many other wounded” who were screaming and crying, he said.
Authorities slapped a curfew on Al-Wajihiyah and closed the main road from Baquba to the town after the explosion, the police colonel said.
Security forces also deployed around the hospital in Baquba where the wounded were taken.
Areas near Baquba have been hit by frequent attacks, including a bombing on Tuesday that targeted worshippers leaving a Sunni mosque in Muqdadiyah, northeast of the city, killing four people and wounding 15.
Militants have attacked both Sunni and Shiite mosques in recent months, raising fears of a return to all-out sectarian conflict that killed tens of thousands of people in past years.
More than 450 people have been killed each month from April to the present.
In addition to security problems, the government in Baghdad is also failing when it comes to addressing other basic issues.
Iraqis severely lack basic services, including electricity and clean water, and corruption is widespread.
Political squabbling has also paralysed the government, which has passed almost no major legislation in years. — AFP.
Online Reporter