A bomb ripped through a crowd of worshippers as they left a Sunni osque in Iraq Tuesday, killing 12 people, as they marked the start of the Eid-ul-Azha holiday. Three children, a policeman and an army officer were among the dead from the blast in the northern city of Kirkuk, which also wounded 26 people, police and a doctor said. Bodies, their clothes covered in blood, were placed in the back of a police pickup truck to be taken away, an AFP journalist reported.
Angry and grieving people railed against those who carried out the attack, shouting: "God take revenge on those who are evil!" Worshipper Khalaf al-Obaidi said he narrowly avoided the blast because he had gone to greet one of his brothers inside the mosque instead of leaving. "Then the bomb exploded," Obaidi said. "You look and you see your friend or your brother or your relatives (on the ground). Even an infidel would not do this," he said. "God willing, there will be security and safety for this country and its poor people."