IRAQ: A SUICIDE bomber detonated a vest packed with metal ball bearings in a refreshment tent full of Iraqi pilgrims heading to a Shia festival yesterday, killing 40 people and wounding 60, police said.
The US military said it was trying to confirm reports 60 people had been killed and 100 wounded in the bombing in the town of Iskandariya, 40km (25 miles) south of Baghdad. Women and children were among the victims, police said.
The attack was one of the deadliest in Iraq this year and happened despite a major tightening of security for the annual Arbain festival in the southern holy city of Kerbala. It is one of Shia Islam's holiest events.
Most of the casualties were hit by the ball bearings, said a doctor at a hospital in the city of Hilla, where many of the wounded were taken. A wounded woman there said the attack happened in a tent where pilgrims were offered refreshments.
"When we reached the area people invited us into a tent to take some rest and have some food. When we entered, there was a huge ball of fire and we saw people lying on the ground," said Um A'amr, who was being treated for multiple wounds.
Police and the US military said the bomber struck hours after militants killed three pilgrims and wounded 36 others in an attack in southern Baghdad.
Capt Muthanna al-Mamouri, spokesman for police in Hilla, said 40 people were killed and 60 wounded in the Iskandariya attack.
The US military said in a statement the deadly attack took place on a two-lane highway near a residential area through which more than 40,000 pilgrims had passed earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, a senior US commander promised on Saturday that US and Iraqi forces would not attack Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi army if it stuck to a ceasefire, after militia members expressed fears they might be targeted.
The Shia cleric's decision to renew his ceasefire for a further six months on Friday was hailed by Iraqi and US officials who said it would help prevent a return to the sectarian violence that pushed Iraq towards all-out civil war.
However, a number of Mehdi army members fear the ceasefire will expose them to attacks from US and Iraqi security forces, which they have accused of exploiting an initial truce called last August to arrest scores of Sadrists.
"We want to emphasise that Iraqi security forces and coalition forces are only targeting those that commit criminal and terrorist acts," Brig-Gen Mike Milano, deputy commander of US forces in Baghdad, told reporters.
"We will continue to treat those who honour the ceasefire with respect and restraint."
Analysts have cautioned US forces not to provoke the Mehdi army, which has tens of thousands of fighters and was once described by the Pentagon as the greatest threat to Iraq's security. The militia staged two uprisings in 2004.
- (Reuters)