The US government has condemned an attack in which at least 70 people were killed and 160 wounded in a triple suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in Baghdad.
The blasts took place outside the Baratha mosque in the north of the capital.
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the attack was clearly perpetrated by those who wished to divide Iraq, who wished to encourage sectarian strife and by individuals who clearly had no respect for religion.
The attack was also condemned by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
The Imam of the Baratha mosque, Sheikh Jalaluddin al-Saghir, is an MP with the Shia United Iraqi Alliance, the largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament.
Iraqi and US military forces have cordoned off the entire area.
The attack follows a car bombing yesterday close to the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf that killed 10 people.
A deadlock over the new Iraqi government, four months after elections, has left a political vacuum amid continuing wrangling between various parliamentary blocs.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, who is accused of failing to stop the killing, has refused mounting pressure to quit office.
In recent days, a number of prominent Shias have joined Iraq's Sunni and Kurdish leaders in demanding that Mr Jaafari withdraw his candidacy.
British Defence Minister John Reid has hinted that Mr Jaafari's refusal to step down was aiding extremists. After talks with his US counterpart Donald Rumsfeld, Mr Reid said the political vacuum was playing into the hands of terrorists.
In response to the latest spate of violence, and with growing fears of full-blown civil war, US forces have boosted their presence in Baghdad and other major cities.
