Woman bomber kills 32 Shia pilgrims in Iraq
A woman suicide bomber dressed in a black abaya blew herself up in a crowd of Shia pilgrims south of the Iraqi capital yesterday, killing 32 worshippers, mostly women and children, officials said.
The interior ministry said 32 people were killed and 65 wounded in the attack in the town of Iskandiriyah as pilgrims flocked on foot to the holy city of Karbala for a major religious ceremony.
Captain Mohammed al-Awadi of the police force for Babil province, of which Hilla is the capital, said the suicide bomber had hidden her explosives under an abaya, the traditional Muslim head-to-toe black garment for women.
She blew herself up among a crowd of women and children just after midday (0900 GMT), he said, adding that most of the casualties were women and children.
It was the third straight day of killings that have targeted Shias heading to Karbala.
The pilgrims had been eating near a tent set up for refreshments along the road south to Karbala when the bomber struck, the interior ministry said.
A doctor at nearby Hilla General Hospital, where tens of ambulances ferried the casualties, said most of the survivors had head and chest wounds.
Iskandiriyah lies within what used to be known as "the triangle of death" where Sunni fighters from al-Qaeda, concealed in date tree groves, would launch deadly attacks on Shias who ventured into the mainly farming area.
Last February, a suicide bomber in Iskandiriyah, which lies 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Baghdad, killed 43 Shia pilgrims and wounded more than 60.
Millions of pilgrims are travelling to Karbala for Arbaeen, a ceremony to mark 40 days after the Ashura anniversary of the killing of Imam Hussein by Sunni caliph Yazid's armies in AD 680.
Karbala provincial governor Akeel al-Khazali told a news conference on Friday that five million pilgrims have already arrived in the city, including 110,000 from abroad.
Friday's attack came a day after eight worshippers were killed and more than 50 wounded in a bomb attack near Karbala's revered Imam Hussein shrine.
An interior ministry source said a bomb placed in a gas pipe and triggered by remote control had been the cause of that attack.
A blast 11 months ago near the shrine left 43 dead.
On Wednesday, deadly bombings again targeting Shias near a Baghdad bus station killed 16 people and shattered a relative lull in violence since largely peaceful provincial elections in Iraq on January 31.
Iraq has experienced a steadily improving security situation in the past year, but the latest attacks have underscored the country's fragile security.
Shia pilgrims heading to Karbala for Arbaeen have been targeted and killed by Sunni insurgent groups in past years, adding to sectarian bloodshed that has seen tens of thousands killed since the US-led invasion in March 2003.
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