A roadside bomb killed three Shia pilgrims and wounded 18 in Baghdad ahead of a religious event, an Iraqi interior ministry source said today.
A police source said three people were killed and 19 wounded by the explosion in the western Baghdad district of Ghazaliya.
Another roadside bomb wounded 14 Shia pilgrims in Khalis, 80 kilometres north of Baghdad, the Diyala province operations centre said.
Shia pilgrims have been gathering around Iraq ahead of Ashura on Friday, which commemorates the death of Prophet Mohammad's grandson Hussein at the battle of Kerbala in 680 and defines Shi'ism and its rift with Sunni Islam.