BAGHDAD: A suicide attack claimed by the militant Islamic State (IS) group killed at least nine people following Friday prayers at a Shia mosque in Baghdad, police and hospital sources said.

A second suicide attacker at the mosque in al-Radwaniya district was shot and killed by security forces before he could set off his explosives, the police sources said.

A journalist saw the bodies of three people being taken away in coffins from the site of the attack.

Gunmen wearing military uniforms with badges identifying them as members of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia surrounded the site of the bombing and prevented media from taking photographs or video, the journalist said.

A separate bomb went off in the district of Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, killing two and wounding nine, security and medical sources said.

IS was behind the larger attack, which also wounded at least 25 others, according to Amaq news agency, which supports the group. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the second blast.

The rise of the extremist group, which is battling government forces over control of vast territory in northern and western Iraq, has exacerbated a long-running sectarian conflict, mostly between Shias and Sunnis.

The Iraqi government has retaken several major cities from IS in the past year and slowly pushed the militants back towards the Syrian border.

The authorities have said they want to recapture the northern city of Mosul this year, but Iraqi officials privately question whether that is possible.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2016