A suicide car bomber killed 30 people as worshippers left a Shia mosque in northern Iraq today, while a series of bombs in Baghdad killed six Shia pilgrims.
A week ago a series of blasts outside Shia mosques in Baghdad killed 31 people. Shia religious gatherings are frequent targets of Sunni Islamist militants such as al-Qaeda.
The attack in northern Iraq took place just north of the city of Mosul, 390 km north of Baghdad. At least 72 people were wounded in the attack.
In Baghdad, a series of roadside bombs exploded as minibuses carrying Shia Muslims home from pilgrimage yesterday passed by.
Two roadside bombs struck two minibuses in separate incidents in the poor Baghdad Shia district of Sadr City. Three people were killed and eight wounded in one blast, and one person was killed and seven were wounded in the other. Another roadside bomb struck a minibus in east Baghdad, killing two people and wounding nine, a hospital source said.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims poured into Iraq's holy city of Kerbala yesterday to mark the birth of Imam Mohammed al-Mehdi, a Messiah-like figure Shia believe vanished centuries ago and will return to bring peace on earth. The event was the second big religious gathering in Iraq since the withdrawal of US combat troops from urban centres on June 30th, which thrust Iraqi security forces into the leading role.
Yesterday’s pilgrimage and the previous event passed largely peacefully, but insurgent attacks are still common, raising doubts about the Iraqi security forces' ability to stand alone.
The insurgency in Iraq has waned in the last 18 months, but has remained stubborn in Mosul and a few other areas. Insurgents have been able to hide out in the remote areas around Mosul, and have exploited divisions between Mosul's Arabs and Kurds.
Reuters