BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber attacked Shia worshippers during prayers in eastern Baghdad on Monday, killing 11 people, security and medical officials said.

The attack, which targeted a place of worship, or husseiniyah, also wounded 32 people, the officials said.

It comes three days after suspected Shia militiamen gunned down 70 Sunni worshippers at a mosque northeast of the capital.

It was not immediately clear if the two attacks were linked, as Sunni extremists often target members of Iraq’s Shia majority, whom they consider to be apostates.

Iraq is struggling to regain swathes of territory lost to a lightning jihadist-led militant offensive launched in June, which swept security forces aside and overrun much of the country’s Sunni heartland.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2014