BAGHDAD — Thousands of Sunni Muslim faithful bowed their heads at dawn Wednesday in mosques around Baghdad for the first prayers of the Eid al-Adha holiday — a time of renewed hope after months of reduced bloodshed, yet tinged with sadness for those not there to share it.
It was the largest turnout in years at Abu Hanifa, Baghdad’s largest Sunni mosque, where worshipers spilled into the yard and the streets. After the service, long lines formed to buy slices of pastry eaten with syrup and cream, a traditional holiday breakfast.
U.S. commanders say violence across Iraq is at its lowest level since the first year of the war in 2003. But officials in Baghdad were leaving nothing to chance Wednesday. Extra security was deployed with bomb-detecting equipment around mosques, parks, markets and other places where people gather for the holiday.
A bomb targeting a police patrol killed one policeman and injured three others, authorities said. One other body was found in Baghdad.
