<p>Iraqi security officials said parliament lawmaker Khalid al-Fahdawi, a Sunni, was among the dead in the 9:40 pm attack.<br /><br />Maj Gen Qassim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Baghdad’s military operations command, confirmed the bombing happened inside the Um al-Qura mosque during prayers in the western Baghdad neighbourhood of al-Jamiaah. The blue-domed building is the largest Sunni mosque in Baghdad.<br /><br />“I heard something like a very severe wind storm, with smoke and darkness, and shots by the guards,” said an eyewitness Mohammad Mustafa, who hit in the hand by shrapnel. <br /><br />That the bomber detonated his explosives vest inside the mosque is particularly alarming, as it is reminiscent of a 2006 attack on a Shiite shrine in the Sunni city of Samarra that fuelled widespread sectarian violence and nearly ignited a nationwide civil war. <br /></p>
<p>Iraqi security officials said parliament lawmaker Khalid al-Fahdawi, a Sunni, was among the dead in the 9:40 pm attack.<br /><br />Maj Gen Qassim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Baghdad’s military operations command, confirmed the bombing happened inside the Um al-Qura mosque during prayers in the western Baghdad neighbourhood of al-Jamiaah. The blue-domed building is the largest Sunni mosque in Baghdad.<br /><br />“I heard something like a very severe wind storm, with smoke and darkness, and shots by the guards,” said an eyewitness Mohammad Mustafa, who hit in the hand by shrapnel. <br /><br />That the bomber detonated his explosives vest inside the mosque is particularly alarming, as it is reminiscent of a 2006 attack on a Shiite shrine in the Sunni city of Samarra that fuelled widespread sectarian violence and nearly ignited a nationwide civil war. <br /></p>