Sepcial Report: Tension accelerates in Iraq

Backgrounder: Major bombing attacks in Iraq since 2003

    BEIJING, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Leaders from a number of countries have condemned Friday's attack on a Shiite mosque in Baghdad which left at least 79 people dead and 160 wounded.

Iraqi policemen secure the scene around the Baratha mosque in Baghdad. More photos

    UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the attack, together with Thursday's bombing near the holy Shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf, clearly demonstrated that there were forces in Iraq determined to inflame sectarian violence and exploit the current difficulties informing the new government.

    "This underscores the urgent need for political leaders to resolve their differences in the best interests of the nation," Annan's spokesman Stephane Dujarric added.

    Three suicide bombers, two of them disguised as women, blew themselves up inside the Buratha mosque in northern Baghdad on Friday in the latest attack on a mosque.

    U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a briefing, "We condemn this most recent bombing of a mosque in Baghdad. There was significant loss of life,"

    "This was clearly perpetrated by those who wish to divide Iraq, who wish to encourage sectarian strife. It was done by individuals who clearly have no respect for religion," he said.

    The U.S. government would work with the Iraqi authorities to try to prevent similar types of attack, the spokesman added.

    Meanwhile, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw also condemned the new wave of deadly bombings in Iraq, saying they underlined the need to establish a national unity government.

    "I was appalled by the news of attacks against innocent Iraqi worshippers at mosques in the holy city of Najaf yesterday, and Baghdad today," Straw said in a statement.

    "Such acts demonstrated contempt for human life and the views of the majority of peace-loving Iraqis. They show how little the terrorists have to offer the Iraqi people," he said.

    Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said on Friday that Canada strongly condemned the attack on the Shiite mosque in Baghdad.

    "This is yet another attempt to derail Iraq from achieving stability and democracy by inflaming sectarian tensions through terrorist means," Mackay stated.

    "We call for those responsible to be brought to justice, and we offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims," he said.

    The foreign minister also urged the Iraqis not to retaliate and asked the country's political leaders to hasten efforts to form a national unity government that would restore security and build "representative and transparent national institutions", including an army and police force.

    Iran on Friday strongly condemned the Baghdad bombing as a "savage act", the official IRNA news agency reported.

    "The occupiers' misconduct in Iraq has created not only instability and unrest in the country, but also has turned Iraq into a safe haven for terrorists," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi was quoted as saying.

    Expressing concern over the complexity of the situation in Iraq, Asefi called on "different groups and sects in the country to confront such criminal conspiracies by their awareness and unity." Enditem