BAGHDAD, June 14: Three mosques were bombed in Iraq on Thursday in apparent reprisals for an attack on a revered shrine, sparking fears of fresh sectarian bloodletting.

Curfews were swiftly imposed in Baghdad and in Samarra, where suspected Al Qaeda militants on Wednesday bombed the Al-Askari mosque, but at least six Sunni mosques have been attacked, including one in the capital.

The destruction of Samarra's two gold-covered minarets came after an initial attack on the shrine in 2006, also blamed on Al Qaeda, sparked Sunni-Shia reprisals that have claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Early on Thursday, two mosques in Iskandiriyah and one in Mahawil, both south of Baghdad, were bombed, Lieutenant Kamal al-Ameri of Hilla police said.

One of the Iskandiriyah mosques had already been attacked on Wednesday, along with two others in the town and one in Baghdad -- the latter despite a curfew that was due to be lifted on Saturday.

“Insurgents bombed the mosque again today at around 4:00 am (midnight GMT) and shrapnel from the bomb wounded a woman and girl in a nearby apartment,” Ameri said of Iskandiriyah's twice-bombed Al-Hatteen mosque.—AFP