Eurasia Press & News
A bomb blast in southern Baghdad has killed at least three Shi’ite pilgrims, one day after a suicide bomber killed 40 pilgrims south of the Iraqi capital.
Officials say Monday’s roadside bombing also wounded 15 religious devotees as they headed toward the central city of Karbala for one of Shi’ite Islam’s holiest gatherings, commemorating
Arbaeen.
A single blast on Sunday killed 40 pilgrims and wounded 60 others. Authorities say a suicide bomber triggered an explosion in a tent where pilgrims had stopped for refreshments.
Earlier Sunday in Baghdad, attackers killed at least three Shi’ite pilgrims and wounded 36 others.
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the U.S. military in Iraq blamed al-Qaida in Iraq for Sunday’s attacks, and they strongly condemned the violence against the pilgrims.
In other violence, Iraqi police say a suicide bomber in a wheelchair blew himself up inside a police building north of Baghdad today, killing a senior police officer.
Authorities say the apparently disabled man entered the building and asked to meet with deputy police chief Major-General Abdul-Jabbar Rabee Muttar. When the police official approached, the bomber detonated his explosives, killing the deputy chief and wounding two other police officers.
VOA