Two suicide bomb attacks on Thursday killed 16 Shiite worshippers and wounded 33 others outside two Shiite mosques in southeastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

The first suicide attack occurred when a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew up himself outside al-Rasoul Shiite mosque in Baghdad's al-Jadida district, or New Baghdad, killing 12 worshippers, and injuring 25 others, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

In a separate incident, another suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a crowd of Shiite worshippers while leaving another Shiite mosque in the al-Zaafaraniyah neighborhood, leaving two of them as well as two Iraqi soldiers killed and eight worshippers injured, the source said.

Iraqi security forces immediately cordoned off the two infested areas to secure the scenes, while ambulances rushed to transport the victims to nearby hospitals, he added.

The attacks came as the Shiite worshippers were marking the end of the Ramadan fasting month.

Violence still haunts Iraq though the U.S. military said earlier that the level of violence was at a four-year low. Militant groups still seem to be capable of stepping up large scale attacks.

(Xinhua News Agency October 2, 2008)