BAGHDAD, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- An attack on a Shia mosque by a suicide bomber in Baghdad killed 13 people Monday, and came soon after a call from unity by Iraq's new prime minister.
The explosion was caused by the detonation of a vest full of explosives during noon prayers in the mosque in the southeastern section of New Baghdad. An unconfirmed number of people were injured. The cities of Karbala and al-Hillah, each south of Baghdad, were the sites of car bomb detonations Monday as well.
It has not been determined if the incidents are connected to the shooting deaths Friday of over 70 people at a Sunni mosque in northeastern Iraq, but they reinforce the challenges Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi faces in unifying the country.
Abadi has been negotiating with Iraq's political and religious blocs, and has until Sept. 11 to submit nominations for ministerial positions to Parliament.
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"We seek to form a government capable of directing the country's abilities in the right direction, uniting national efforts and integrating all abilities and skills," Abadi said Monday at his first news conference as prime minister. Referring to the Islamic State, a militant group that has taken over much of Iraqi territory, he added, "We face a fierce enemy, which is terrorism. This terror confronts all Iraqis, the region and in fact the whole world."
In Geneva Switzerland, Monday, Navi Pillay, the United Nations' high commissioner for human rights, referred to IS actions as crimes against humanity, adding the militants are "systematically targeting men, women and children based on their ethnic, religious or sectarian affiliation and are ruthlessly carrying out widespread ethnic and religious cleansing in the areas under their control."
