A bomb planted near a Baghdad mosque killed three Shiite worshippers as they were leaving Friday prayers, Iraqi officials said. According to the AP, police and health officials said seven people were hurt in the blast, which occurred in the primarily Shiite neighborhood of Shaab of north Baghdad.
Maj. Mark Cheadle, a U.S. military spokesman, said the bomb exploded across the street from the mosque. He said three civilians were wounded but none died in the attack. Iraqi police and hospital officials gave the higher death toll.
Throughout the country, mosque preachers used the weekly prayer services to speak out against the draft security agreement, which would allow U.S. troops to remain in Iraq until at least the end of 2011.
In Najaf, an aide to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr told worshippers that the Sadrist movement would continue to oppose the deal "whatever the concessions that the government claims to have gotten."
In Baghdad, Sunni cleric Abdul-Sattar Abdul-Jabar said the agreement is "more dangerous than the occupation" and demanded the government refuse to sign it. He called for a referendum to allow voters to decide on the deal.
