Dozens of people have been killed and at least 160 injured in an apparent triple suicide bomb attack on a Shia mosque in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

The blasts happened at the Buratha mosque, as crowds of worshippers left after Friday prayers.

Frantic rescuers loaded the injured the dead onto pickup trucks.

The attacked mosque holds hundreds of people and is one of the most important in the city.

People waited anxiously for news of victims as the death toll rose.

The many injured were taken to a local hospital for treatment.

A man collects victims' belongings from the scene, next to a picture of Iraq's top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

As police inspected the damage, Iraqi firefighters hosed down the mosque and its courtyard.

Correspondents say the attack is likely to increase sectarian tensions further.