Two suicide bombers blOW themselves up in two Shiite mosques in the town of Khanaqin, northeast of Baghdad, when locals were observing Friday's prayers. (Xinhua/AFP photo)

BAGHDAD, Nov. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- War-torn Iraq experienced a bloody day on Friday, with around 80 people, most of them civilians, killed in mosque and hotel blasts, while some analysts attributed the new wave of killings to recent abuse scandals.

    The deadliest attacks occurred in two Shiite mosques in eastern Iraq when two suicide bombers blew themselves up among the prayers.  

    "At least 70 people were killed and over 100 others wounded in the blasts," an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua, adding the death toll could continue to rise.  

    "Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in two Shiite mosques in the town of Khanaqin, northeast of Baghdad, when locals were observing Friday's prayers," the source said.

    Khanaqin is a Shiite-dominated town, about 140 km northeast of Baghdad, with Sunnis and Kurds living there.

    Local authorities have immediately imposed a curfew in the town near the Iranian border.

    Also in the morning, at least six Iraqis were killed and some 40 others injured in two car bomb blasts in Baghdad.

    The attack took place in southern Baghdad Jadriyah district at Hamra hotel housing foreign journalists, near the Iraqi Interior Ministry complex where US soldiers on Sunday discovered a number of Iraqi prisoners who had suffered abuse.

    

A woman cries at the site where two suicide car bombers detonated vehicles in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 18, 2005, in a residential district, and a hotel housing foreign journalists was the apparent target, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. (Xinhua/Reuters)

"The killed include two children and a woman, and some 40 people were wounded. They were civilians, security guards and employees from nearby Hamra Hotel," a source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    "Two suicide bombers blew up their explosive-laden cars at about 8:30 a.m. (0530 GMT)," the source said.

    The source added that the two blasts were very powerful,causing a huge damage to a two-storey building near the hotel. It also destroyed several surrounding buildings.

    Violence continued Friday afternoon when a suicide car bomb detonated near a US-Iraq joint patrol, northeast of Baghdad,killing two US soldiers and two Iraqi policemen.

    "The joint patrol was attacked near Baquba, about 60 km northeast of Baghdad. Seven Iraqi policemen and two US soldiers were wounded," the source said.  Enditem