Nine young soccer players and fans were killed when a bomb exploded near a pitch in southern Iraq, health officials said. This is the latest in a wave of attacks raising fears of a return to widespread sectarian violence.
The explosion, in a predominantly Shia Muslim area of Hilla city, happened on the same day that, police and hospital sources said, a roadside bomb killed five people near a pet shop popular with young people in a Sunni Muslim area of the northern city of Baqubah.
More than 140 people have been killed this month in bombings targeting mainly Shia pilgrims.
In Hilla, the bomb attached to a minibus exploded near a field where two youth teams had just finished a game, said police and hospital sources. The dead and injured were aged between 15 and 20.
– (Reuters)