A suicide bomber has killed at least ten people and injured at least thirty in the town of Baladruz in eastern Iraq, near the Iranian border, according to various media reports.

The attacker’s targeted a Shia mosque in the town, Imam al-Hussein mosque, a security official told Reuters, soon after evening prayers.

It is believed that all the casualties were men.

Baladruz is 55 miles northeast of Baghdad in the Diyala province, where the Shia and Sunni Muslim population is roughly equal. In March, another suicide bomber killed at least nine soldiers on an Iraqi army base in Diyala.

While no one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, Sunni militants have frequently targeted Shia mosque in order to foment sectarian strife.

While such attacks have declined since the peak years of 2006-2007, bombings are almost a daily occurrence in Iraq.
Such violence is likely to persist as the US military prepares to withdraw from the country in a few months.

Iraq Iraq Iraq