Suicide bomber’s attack kills 47 at Shiite funeral

Mosul, Iraq ? A suicide attacker set off a bomb Thursday that tore through a funeral tent jammed with Shiite mourners, splattering blood and body parts over rows of overturned white plastic chairs. The attack, which killed 47 and wounded more than 100, came as Shiite and Kurdish politicians in Baghdad said they overcame a major stumbling block to forming a new coalition government.

The explosion, in a working-class neighborhood of this northern city, destroyed a large tent pitched next to a smaller one on a grassy patch in the courtyard of a mosque. Survivors scrambled to get the wounded to a hospital, lugging them to ambulances and cars in blankets or prayer rugs as a strong smell of gunpowder filled the yard.

“As we were inside the mosque, we saw a ball of fire and heard a huge explosion,” said Tahir Abdullah Sultan, 45. “After that, blood and pieces of flesh were scattered around the place.”

At first, some mourners thought it was an air strike. But once they smelled the gunpowder, they said they knew it was a suicide bombing.

Blood was spattered across the grass, car windows were shattered and survivors wailed as corpses were loaded onto the backs of pickup trucks. Others simply folded newspapers over the faces of the dead. The body parts that were strewn around the area were believed to be of the bomber.

Shiite mosques and funerals have become a frequent target of Sunni-led insurgents. Last month, suicide bombers attacked a number of them during the Shiite commemoration of Ashoura, killing nearly 100 people.

Mosul has been a hotbed of insurgent violence and the scene of many bombings, drive-by shootings and assassinations targeting the country’s security services, majority Shiites and people thought to be working with U.S.-led forces.

Dealing with the persistent insurgency will be a main task for a new Iraqi government.

An Iraqi man grieves at the blast site after a suicide bomber blew himself up during a funeral in Mosul, Iraq. The blast in the courtyard of a Shiite mosque killed at least 47 people and injured more than 100, according to witnesses and hospital officials.

Officials said the deal between the Shiite clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance and the Kurdish parties opened the way for naming a Cabinet when Iraq’s democratically elected National Assembly convenes Wednesday.

The Kurds agreed to support the alliance candidate for prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

Baghdad, Iraq (ap) — The temporary road checkpoint where American troops mistakenly killed an Italian intelligence agent last week was set up to provide extra security for U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte, a U.S. Embassy official said Thursday.Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, meanwhile, assured his Italian counterpart the inquiry into the death of Nicola Calipari would clearly determine what happened, Italy’s government said.Calipari died a week ago when troops at the checkpoint fired at an approaching car that was carrying Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who had just been freed by Iraqi kidnappers.It was not known if Negroponte, who was nominated last month by President Bush to be the new director of national intelligence, passed through the checkpoint before the shooting. Senior U.S. officials usually travel by helicopter to avoid attacks in Iraq, but methods are varied so as not to be predictable.