Suicide car bombers mounted two attacks against Iraqi soldiers in northern Iraq today that killed at least seven people.
In one attack, a suicide bomber blew up his car at an Iraqi army checkpoint in Suleiman Beik, 60 miles south of Kirkuk, killing three Iraqi soldiers and two civilians.
In the town of Samarra, a stronghold of Sunni Arab insurgents 60 miles north of Baghdad, a car bomber detonated his vehicle beside an army patrol, killing at least two Iraqi soldiers.
Suicide bombers are increasingly targeting Iraqi security forces on patrol or at checkpoints, rather than mounting large-scale attacks on police stations or military bases. US officers say this is because security has improved at buildings likely to be targeted by insurgents.
In the sacred Shia city of Kerbala, 70 miles southwest of Baghdad, the streets were packed with pilgrims arriving to observe Arbain, a mourning ceremony commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein in the seventh century.
Officials in Kerbala said more than three million pilgrims had come to the city over the past week, many of them walking from Baghdad and even further afield. Many pilgrims beat themselves and slash their heads with swords to express their grief during the ceremony, which was banned by Saddam Hussein.
Hundreds of Iraqi police and soldiers are on alert in Kerbala to thwart any insurgent attacks. Mainly Sunni guerrillas fighting to overthrow Iraq's US-backed government have mounted repeated attacks on Shias, who they accuse of allying with the Americans.
Last year, suicide bombers attacked pilgrims during the Shia Ashura ceremony in Baghdad and Kerbala, killing more than 130 people. Bomb attacks also killed at least 35 people this year during Ashura, which comes 40 days before Arbain.