The Religion of Peace� is battling it out in Iraq, in a Shiite power struggle making liberal use of high explosives: Four Killed in Car Bombing in Iraq.

The Dubai-based al-Arabiya network reported 17 dead, and unconfirmed reports had higher death tolls. Dozens were injured in the blast, which dug a crater about 3 1/2 feet deep in the street in front of the mosque and destroyed nearby shops, where people pulled the dead and injured from the rubble.

Among the dead was Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, who had just delivered a sermon calling for Iraqi unity at the shrine, the holiest in Iraq.

Shiites in Iraq are embroiled in a generational power struggle, but there was no evidence the bombing was the work of the younger Shiite faction, which has its strongest support in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum.

UPDATE: AP reports that the death toll from this massive car bomb at a mosque now stands at 75: Car Bomb Kills 75 at Mosque in Iraq.

UPDATE: CNN now reports at least 125 dead.