13 killed in attacks in Shia areas in Iraq (Roundup)

At least 13 people were killed and 48 injured Monday in separate bomb attacks in Shia areas in Iraq even as the country's top Shia cleric expressed support for the government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

Ten worshippers were killed and some 31 wounded Monday in a suicide bomb attack at a Shia mosque in Iraq's capital Baghdad, an interior ministry source said.

The attack occurred during the noon prayers when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest inside al-Khairat Shia mosque at a commercial district in downtown Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"The latest reports said that 10 people were killed and 31 wounded in the suicide bombing in the Shia mosque," the source said.

Earlier, the source put the toll at four killed and 12 wounded in the blast.

The attack apparently was part of a series of deadly attacks during the past few days that targeted the predominantly Shia districts in Baghdad, killing and wounding dozens of Iraqis.

in Iraq's holy Shia city of Karbala, at least three people were killed and 17 wounded in four car bomb attacks, a police source said.

Two booby-trapped cars exploded at Bab Twuirij district in northern Karbala, some 110 km south of Iraq's capital Baghdad, and two others detonated in the central and eastern parts of the city, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The toll could rise as ambulances and police vehicles were evacuating the casualties to hospitals, the source said.

Meanwhile, Iraq's most revered Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Monday met Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and expressed his support to Abadi's new government and its fighting against the extremist Islamic State (IS) militant group.

"Sistani welcomed and blessed the formation of the new government and stressed on the necessity for me to be open to other Iraqi factions to preserve the country's national unity," Abadi told reporters after the meeting with Sistani in the holy Shia city of Najaf, some 160 km south of Baghdad.

Abadi said that the Grand Ayatollah supported Abadi's stance to reject foreign ground troops on Iraqi soil, Xinhua reported.

"We can liberate our territories by ourselves because there is no state in the world ready to fight instead of you and give you the land. We have to work hand in hand to liberate our territories, " Abadi said.

He also said that the Iraqi capital was secure enough against any possible attack by the IS militants, saying "our defensive lines are far away from Baghdad and there is security and intelligence efforts by the security forces to monitor the situation around the capital".

Abadi confirmed that the Iraqi security forces have recently carried out military operations and made some progress in their fight against the IS militants, including the latest advance of the troops toward the militant-seized town of Baiji, some 200 km north of Baghdad.

Abadi's meeting with Sistani is widely seen as gaining symbolic significance. The top Shia cleric has refused to receive all politicians during the past four years as a signal of discontent toward the way they run the country.