HILLA, Oct 5: A suicide car bomber drove at a mosque south of Baghdad on Wednesday and brought part of the structure crashing down, killing 25 people.

A roof caved in and people were being dug out of the rubble in the darkness, an official said. At least 87 people were wounded in the blast at Hilla, 100kms south of the capital.

The attack came as worshippers observing the first day of Ramazan were gathering for prayers at the end of fasting.

The new strike comes after 10 people were killed by a car bomb explosion on Friday in a vegetable market in Hilla, 100 kilometres from the capital.

Iraqi and US officials have voiced fears of an increase in violence ahead of the Oct 15 referendum on a new constitution, which guerillas have vowed to wreck.

Hilla, the capital of Babil province, lies on one of Iraq’s sectarian fault lines, with a large Shia population living among Sunnis, some of whom were encouraged to settle there under the rule of Saddam Hussein.

It has seen some of the bloodiest attacks on Shias by guerrillas. In February, 125 people were killed by a suicide car bomb. Nearly 100 died in July in the nearby town of Mussayyib.