Attacks targeting Shias in Baghdad, including a suicide bombing at a funeral in a mosque, killed at least 15 people on Friday, security and medical officials said. The suicide bombing inside the Al-Ashara al-Mubashareen mosque in the Amil area of south Baghdad killed at least 13 people and wounded at least 33, the officials said. Two officials said the funeral was for a member of the volunteer paramilitary forces known as the Popular Mobilisation units.
And in the Sadr City area of north Baghdad, two roadside bombs exploded near another Shiite place of worship, killing at least two people and wounding at least nine. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but suicide bombings are a tactic used exclusively by Sunni extremists in Iraq, including the Islamic State jihadist group, who consider Shiites to be heretics. The Popular Mobilisation units - which are dominated by Iranian-backed Shia militias - are some of the most effective forces in the battle against IS, which overran large parts of the country last year.