Baghdad, Iraq - A suicide bomber killed at least 10 people inside a Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad on Friday, police said, a day after the national security adviser said al Qaeda's days are numbered in Iraq.
He blew himself up as worshippers gathered for prayers at the Buratha mosque, an old site which is revered by Shi'ites. Twenty-five people were wounded.
It was the type of violence that the new leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, who succeeded the slain Abu Musab al-Zarqawi last week, had vowed to maintain as part of a war against Iraq's Shi'ites and the U.S.-backed government.
Mosque guard Abdullah Hussein said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who had hidden explosives in his sandals to avoid security checks. Police have not confirmed this.
"A guard tried to stop him but he blew himself up and nothing was left of him except his head. You can see it if you want, it's over there," he said, pointing toward a tray in the mosque where a severed human head lay.
Shortly after the mosque blast, mortar bombs hit houses and shops on the edge of Baghdad, killing at least three people.
The man who is believed to be the new al Qaeda boss in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, vowed three days ago to avenge the death of Zarqawi, who was killed by a U.S. air strike last week.
Friday's mosque violence came just two days after the government launched a security crackdown with 50,000 Iraqi forces backed by 7,000 U.S. forces designed to put more pressure on al Qaeda.
It's not the first time a suicide bomber has killed at the Buratha mosque. On April 7, three suicide bombers dressed as women attacked it, killing at least 71 people.
U.S. and Iraqi officials described Zarqawi's death as a great victory against "terrorism" but they say it will not end a brutal campaign of suicide bombings, shootings and beheadings.
In the southern, Shi'ite city of Basra, gunmen killed the local head of the influential Muslim Scholars Association, Yusif al-Hassan, in what appeared to be another sectarian killing.