Suicide bomber hits Shiite mosque in north Iraq, 8 dead

Kirkuk: A suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside a Shiite mosque in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Thursday, killing at least eight people as they attended a mourning ceremony, police said.

The bombing followed a series of blasts on Shiite neighbourhoods in Baghdad hours earlier, part of a surge in violence over the last four weeks stirring worries Iraq may slide back into widespread sectarian confrontation.