By Jamal al-Badrani
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber killed 30 people as they left a Shi'ite Muslim mosque just outside the volatile northern Iraqi city of Mosul, officials said Friday, while a series of bombs in Baghdad killed six Shi'ite pilgrims.
Police said 88 people were wounded in the suicide bombing, one of several attacks in recent weeks targeting Shi'ite religious gatherings. A week ago a series of blasts outside Shi'ite mosques in Baghdad killed 31 people.
Sunni Islamist militants such as al Qaeda, who consider Shi'ites heretics, are often blamed for such attacks.
"I was in the house when this explosion happened. I hurried to the mosque to search for my father in the ruins...I found him seriously wounded, and took him to hospital, but he died," said Khalil Qasim, 19, crying.
Mosul authorities urged citizens to donate blood and appealed for construction vehicles to lift debris trapping victims of the attack, which took place in Shreikhan, a majority Shi'ite Turkmen village just north of Mosul city.
Bombings and shootings are reported almost daily in Mosul.
The insurgency in Iraq has waned in the last 18 months, but insurgents have been able to hide out in the mountainous areas around Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, and have exploited divisions between Mosul's feuding Arabs and Kurds.
The dispute in the northern province of Nineveh, of which Mosul is the capital, threatens to split the province and inflame tensions that could threaten Iraq's long-term stability.
SQUARE ONE
Many Iraqis also fear attacks on Shi'ites may re-ignite the sectarian slaughter between Sunnis and Shi'ites that has only abated in the last 18 months. Tens of thousands have been killed in the bloodshed since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
"These bombings are an attempt to return Iraq to square one," said analyst and professor Hameed Fadhel.
"I expect these attacks to rise the closer we get to the elections. The coming months will be a very critical time for Iraq," he added, referring to national polls due in January.
Politicians are in the throes of discussing coalitions, and violence may make cross-sectarian alliances difficult.
In Baghdad, roadside bombs exploded as minibuses carrying Shi'ite Muslims home from pilgrimage a day earlier passed by.
Roadside bombs struck two minibuses in separate incidents in the poor Baghdad Shi'ite district of Sadr City and another roadside bomb struck a minibus in east Baghdad, a hospital source said, killing a total of six and wounding 24.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims poured into Iraq's holy city of Kerbala Thursday to mark the birth of Imam Mohammed al-Mehdi, a Messiah-like figure Shi'ites believe vanished centuries ago and will return to bring peace on earth.
The event was the second big religious gathering in Iraq since the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from urban centres in June, which thrust Iraqi security forces into the leading role.
Thursday's pilgrimage and the previous event passed largely peacefully, but insurgent attacks are still common, raising doubts about the Iraqi security forces' ability to stand alone.
(Additional reporting by Muhanad Mohammed, Waleed Ibrahim and Khalid al-Ansary in Baghdad; writing by Mohammed Abbas and Yara Bayoumy)
