Iraq: Suicide bomber kills 15 in a mosque

A suicide bomber killed at least 15 people and injured 95 on Friday in a Sunni Muslim mosque in northern Iraq, officials said. Police said the bomber attacked the mosque in Tal Afar in Nineveh province, 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, during Friday prayers. An official said the attacker shot dead a local judge praying there before detonating the explosives. Suicide attacks are the hallmark of Sunni Islamist groups and it is rare for them to target Sunni rather than Shi'ite places of worship. The Tal Afar mosque was probably attacked because its imam had spoken out against al Qaeda and also to kill the judge, the official said.