Bomber of Baghdad mosque disguised self as beggar

BAGHDAD (AP) — The suicide bomber who killed 29 people at Baghdad's largest Sunni mosque disguised himself as a beggar and attended prayers there for nearly a week to avoid raising suspicions, a senior religious figure said Monday.

The attack hit Sunnis praying at a special service Sunday night during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan and appeared calculated to try to re-ignite widespread violence in Iraq just months before all U.S. troops are required to withdraw from the country.

The bomber, who pretended to be a beggar, had attended prayers for six straight days at the Um al-Qura mosque in western Baghdad, said Sheik Ahmed Abdul Gafur al-Samarraie, head of an endowment that oversees all Sunni religious sites