[Al Arabiya Latest] A string of bomb attacks targetting Muslim Shiite worshippers as they emerged from mosques across Baghdad on Friday killed at least 27 people and wounded 59 in the latest sectarian violence plaguing the country, security officials said. The six apparently coordinated blasts occurred outside mosques and prayer centers in and around the capital, including one frequented by followers of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, they said.The worst attack was in the northeastern Baghdad district of al-Shaab, where a car bomb killed 21 people and injured 35 others, an interior ministry official said.
In twin bombings at Diyala bridge, 10 kilometers (six miles) south of Baghdad, four people were killed and seven wounded.
Attacks in Zafaraniyah and Kamaliyah neighborhoods killed one person each and left six and three people wounded respectively. A separate attack in al-Elam in western Baghdad injured four.
Violence has dropped markedly throughout Iraq in recent months, but attacks increased in the run-up to the U.S. military pullback a month ago from urban centers, with 437 Iraqis killed in June -- the highest death toll in 11 months.
Shiite religious gatherings are a favorite target of Sunni Islamist al-Qaeda, which regards Shiites as heretics. The group, though greatly weakened in Iraq in the past 18 months, has shown itself still capable of launching devastating attacks.