BAGHDAD — A car bomb killed at least eight people Friday outside a Sunni mosque in Baghdad and gunmen abducted a Sunni cleric, raising sectarian tensions as the election commission gave the final go-ahead for talks to begin in earnest on a new government.
Also Friday, the U.S. military said two Marines were killed the day before by a roadside bomb near Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad.
The blast that killed eight occurred about 10 yards from the Iskan al-Shaabi mosque in the tense Dora neighborhood, shattering windows and showering glass on worshippers at the main weekly Muslim prayer service.
At least 21 people were injured, according to Dr. Muhannad Jawad of Yarmouk General Hospital. Pools of blood in the street indicated that most of the dead were outside the mosque.
About an hour later, several masked gunmen shouting "Allahu Akbar," or "God is great," arrived in two cars and began shooting at people standing outside the mosque, witnesses said.
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An Associated Press photographer saw two bystanders gunned down by the masked men, one of whom held a pistol to the head of a woman. The photographer fled, but police later said the woman was killed and two men were wounded.
The U.S. Central Command, meanwhile, said U.S. jets flew in support of U.S. and Iraqi troops "in contact with anti-Iraqi forces" Thursday near eight cities of central and northern Iraq, including Baghdad. No further details were released.
No group claimed responsibility for the mosque attack, and it was unclear whether the gunmen were the ones responsible for the car bomb. Dora has been the scene of numerous attacks by Sunni insurgents against Shiite police and soldiers, and Friday's violence could have been carried out by Shiite militants in retaliation.
New deadline set for hostage
The Iraqi kidnappers of American journalist Jill Carroll have set a Feb. 26 deadline for their demands to be met or they will kill her, said the owner of Kuwait's Al-Rai television, which broadcast the latest video of Carroll on Thursday.
People close to the kidnappers told the private TV channel earlier Friday that Carroll is "in a safe house owned by one of the kidnappers in downtown Baghdad with a group of women," Jassem Boudai told the AP.
Jan. election results certified
Also Friday, Iraqi officials certified the results of parliamentary elections, setting Iraq on a timeline for forming a new, permanent government.
The certification of the election triggered a series of deadlines that putatively requires political leaders to choose a president, a prime minister and a Cabinet within two months. But the negotiations are likely to be contentious, and few expect them to be completed according to the timetable. It took three months for Iraqis to form an interim government last spring.
The final election results, announced at a news conference in Baghdad, were unchanged from preliminary ones announced in January, in which an alliance of Shiite parties won the single largest portion in the 275-seat parliament.
● Deaths: 2,270
● Wounded: 16,653
Latest identifications
● Marine Pfc. Jacob D. Spann, 21, Columbus, Ohio; assigned to Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
● Army Spc. Allen D. Kokesh Jr., 21, Yankton, S.D.; assigned to the National Guard's 1st Battalion, 147th Field Artillery, Yankton, S.D.
Source: Department of Defense. Deaths as of Friday. Wounded as of Tuesday.
