Iraq’s deadliest bomb this year ripped through a Shia mosque in the north of the country yesterday, killing at least 73 people and injuring around 200.
A suicide bomber detonated a bomb truck in the town of Taza, 20km (13 miles) south of the city of Kirkuk, burying dozens of people under rubble and flattening about 80 houses as well as the al-Rasul mosque.
More than half of the victims were pulled from the rubble and dust of around 70 clay brick homes that were flattened in the explosion near the northern city of Kirkuk, said Brigadier General Najeh Mohammad, the local head of civil defence.
“We expect that there are still some dead bodies under the rubble. But the chances are less than before,” said Mohammad.
A survivor of the powerful explosion, Askar Zaman, said 10 of his relatives were killed, including sons and grandsons.
Black flags and banners of mourning fluttered from poles all over the Shiite Muslim village of Taza and the victims were swiftly buried in the same part of the local cemetery.
