Gunmen attack Baghdad mosque

The attack came on the Muslim holy day

Gunmen have shot at worshippers at a Sunni Muslim mosque in the Iraqi capital, injuring three people.

One of the injured was in a serious condition after the attack at the Quiba mosque in Baghdad's north-eastern al-Shab City district.

An imam at the Quiba mosque, Walid al-Azari, said the attackers wanted "civil war between Shias and Sunnis".

But as local people rushed the casualties to hospital it was not immediately clear who was behind the new attack.

We were unarmed, in a sacred place - what could we do? Abdullah Waleed Eyewitness

Witnesses said three men armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles got out of a pick-up truck and burst through the mosque's gate at the end of dawn prayers, opening fire.

"We were listening to a lesson when they came in and started shooting at random," said witness Abdullah Waleed.

"People ran to hide everywhere, but they hit three. We were unarmed, in a sacred place. What could we do?"

The BBC's Valerie Jones reports from Baghdad that fears of violent conflict between the Shia and Sunni communities have been high since the massive car bomb in Najaf a week ago which killed more than 120 people.

New Shia leader

Shia Muslims are gathering in the holy city of Najaf on Friday to hear a sermon by the brother of a popular cleric who was killed in the attack.

More than 10,000 worshippers have filled the area around the Imam Ali shrine, 180 kilometres (110 miles) south of Baghdad, waiting to hear the sermon by Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim.

The killing of the ayatollah rocked Iraq's Shias

Mr Hakim's brother, Ayatollah Muhammad Baqr al-Hakim, and more than 120 others were killed by a car bomb near the Tomb of Ali, one of the Shias' holiest shrines.

Armed guards were placed at intervals of five metres (yards) along the top of the Imam Ali shrine on Friday.

Abdel-Aziz Hakim, a member of the US-backed Iraqi Governing Council, has succeeded his late brother in taking over a leading position in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (Sciri), an Iraqi Shia organisation.

Abdel-Aziz was previously leader of Sciri's armed wing, the Badr Brigade, which coalition forces ordered to disarm as the war to oust Saddam Hussein came to an end in April.

But the Badr Brigade has since rearmed and some of its members, identified by armbands, were among the security guards on Friday.