Urgent/ Blast in Shiite mosque in Babel leaves 26 casualties

BABEL / IraqiNews.com: An explosion took place in a Shiite mosque in northwest of Hilla on Friday, killing eight civilians and injuring 18, a security source said. “The blast occurred in a Shiite mosque in al-Musayab district, northwest of Hilla, before the Friday prayer, killing eight civilians, including a woman, and wounding 18,” the source told IraqiNews.com. “Preliminary reports indicate that the explosion occurred by an explosive belt,” he continued. Babel, a Shiite province that lies 100 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, has an area of 6,468 square kilometers (2,497.3 sq mi), with an estimated population of 1,385,783 people in 2003. The provincial capital is the town of al-Hilla. The ancient ruins of Babylon ( Babil , after which the region is named) are also in the province. SH (P) 1