Baghdad  - A suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque in Iraq on Friday, killing 12 people and injuring 16, security sources were quoted as saying in media reports.

The attack occurred in a Shiite mosque in al-Musayab district in Babel, 100 kilometres south of the capital Baghdad

The Aswat al-Iraq news agency reported that the suicide bomber was an Afghan national. The agency quoted an unnamed source.

The explosion came a day after Iraq's parliament approved the controversial security agreement with the United States that sets the timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from the country.

The agreement was approved despite vehement opposition from the Sadrist bloc in parliament, made up of followers of the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Al-Sadr on Friday declared three days of mourning in response to the vote, Aswat al-Iraq reported.

Under the security agreement negotiated between Washington and Baghdad, US troops are to withdraw from Iraqi cities by the end of June 2009 and from the rest of the country by the end of December 2011. (dpa)