Sepcial Report: Tension accelerates in Iraq   

    BAGHDAD, April 7(Xinhua) -- At least 40 people were killed and 130 injured in suicide bombings in a Shiite mosque in northern Baghdad on Friday, an Iraqi Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

    "Now the number of the wounded rises to 130," the source said, compared to 40 injured in an initial report.

    The source also said that there were three suicide bombers, instead of two, who blew up inside the mosque.

    "The Shiite mosque, named Buratha, located in the al-Ataifya district in north Baghdad," the source said.

    "The suicide bombers blew up simultaneously at around 3:30 p.m.(1130 GMT) after the worshippers finished their Friday prayers and were about to leave the mosque," the source added.

    Jalal Adin Al-Sajre, who led the prayers in the mosque and also a member of the parliament with the Shiite Iraqi United Alliance, was present when the blasts occurred. He escaped unhurt, according to local television report.

    The mosque belongs to the Superior Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), which is the most powerful party inside dominating Shiite Alliance of Iraq's parliament.

    The Baghdad provincial council was calling on people to donate blood in the hospital, the local Iraqia television reported.

    The attack came a day after a car bomb blew up near the sacred Shiite Iman Ali shrine in Najaf, south of Baghdad, killing at least 10 and wounding over 40 others.

    Sectarian violence inflamed after the bombing of a Shiite holy shrine in Samarra on Feb. 22, raising fears that reprisals could pitch Iraqi toward civil war. Enditem