Seven killed, several injured in blast at mosque in Baghdad

At least 7 people were killed and more than 20 injured after a bomb explosion in Imam Mahdi's mosque in the Baladiyat district of the Iraqi capital, local media reported.

No terrorist group has immediately claimed responsibility for the Friday attack on the mosque, according to the Iraqi media.

Police sources told that a terrorist wearing a suicide belt had conducted the attack.

The site where the blast took place has been cordoned off by security services.

The source said the death toll was expected to rise with many of those wounded in serious condition.

The blast comes after two projectiles were launched the day before in the Iraqi province of Basra, according to Iraqi security services. The city is home to a number of foreign and Iraqi oil companies and fields.

Sunni extremists carried out high-profile bombings of Iraqi Shi’ite sites during the worst of the country’s sectarian violence after the U.S. invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Baghdad’s security improved significantly with the defeat of Islamic State in 2017 and bomb attacks of any kind in the city have been rare since then.