IRAaQI PpOLICEeMEeN secure the scene of a roadside bomb blast that hit a mini bus carrying Shiite pilgrims in Sadr City, in Bbaghdad, Iraq, Ffriday. (AP)

MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) — A powerful car bomb killed at least 37 Shiite Muslims in Iraq’s main northern city of Mosul on Friday in a wave of attacks that also killed 10 people in the capital Baghdad. A further 276 people were wounded in the Mosul suicide bombing, Nineveh province Governor Athel al-Nijafi said, in the latest in a spate of deadly attacks against Shiites which have stoked fears of a return to the sectarian conflict which swept the country in 2006 and 2007.

The bomb targeted a Shiite mosque used by members of the Turkmen minority in the mainly Sunni Muslim city 370 kilometres (230 miles) north of Baghdad, a police official told AFP. There was carnage when the explosives were detonated as worshippers left the building after the main weekly prayers.

The force of the blast levelled the mosque and several adjacent buildings, and police said they were sifting through the rubble searching for casualties. “When we arrived, there was blood everywhere and pieces of flesh all over the ground and walls,’’ police Lieutenant Khaled Rajab said. ‘’The mosque and several houses were flattened and we began searching through the rubble.’’

Ali Hassan, 41, said he had rushed to the mosque when he heard the explosion. “The stench of blood and dust was overwhelming. I found the lifeless body of my nephew and three of my sons all wounded. I put them in a police car and brought them to hospital to find my fourth son was also dead.’’

Nahla Abbas said in hospital that she had been preparing lunch in her kitchen when there was a massive explosion and the roof of her house collapsed.