A suicide attack which took place in two Shiite mosques in Khanaqin killed 74 persons in one of the most violent incidents since September 29, when 99 persons lost their lives, AP informs.

According to the Iraqi authorities, two Sunni attackers wearing explosive belts, detonated themselves among the worshippers who were praying in the two mosques.

Salem Ali Mohammed, 32, was lucky enough to be in the bathroom when the explosion in one of the holy places took place. Thinking that a rocket hit the building, the man returned to the praying room only to witness a horrifying view.

"I walked toward the prayer room and saw that the ceiling had collapsed and dead bodies were everywhere," the survivor said.

The attack came a few hours after the explosion of a van and car crammed with explosives that killed at least six persons, among which a woman and two children, outside the Hamra hotel in Baghdad.

Sa'ad al-Izzi, a Boston Globe correspondent, was in one of the hotel rooms when the explosion took place. He writes about the shock of the explosion which shook the room and broke the window. "I hadn't felt an explosion this strong since a Scud missile hit my family's street in Baghdad during the Iran-Iraq war in 1987", Sa'ad al-Izzi said.