Iraq says 379 killed since mosque bombing

Violence since Wednesday's bombing of a Shia shrine in Iraq has killed 379 people and wounded 458, the Iraqi government said in a statement today.

The government denied the death toll was higher.

Reprisal attacks on Sunni mosques and other sectarian bloodshed has pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war, and officials have been trying to play down the extent of violence.

Suspected al-Qaeda militants destroyed the Golden Mosque in Samarra, sparking reprisals in the gravest crisis since US forces invaded in 2003.

In an unusual statement, issued in English, the office of Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari said media reports that the death toll was well over 1,000 were "inaccurate and exaggerated".