A female suicide bomber detonated in a crowd of primarily women and children on their way to a religious festival Friday, killing at least 35 people and wounding 45 others, an Interior Ministry official said.
Two children were also killed in a separate incident when an old and unexploded mortar round exploded Friday morning just south of Baghdad. The children, who were younger than 15, were playing with the round when it exploded, a ministry official said. The deaths happened in the town of Mussayiab, which is 61 kilometers (38 miles) south of Baghdad. The suicide attack took place about noon between the towns of Iskandariyah and Mussayib, south of the capital, Baghdad, as hundreds of thousands of Shia pilgrims are making their way to Karbala for Arbaeen, one of the holiest Shia events. The suicide attack comes on the heels of other bombings targeting Shiite pilgrims earlier in the week and are signs that the sectarian conflicts that devastated Iraq in recent years are not over. An explosion in Karbala on Thursday killed at least five Shiite pilgrims and wounded 50 near a shrine. On Wednesday, a double car bombing struck a Baghdad bus station where Shiite pilgrims gathered for the holy day. Sixteen people were killed and 43 were wounded. Also, two pilgrims were killed and 16 were wounded Wednesday in roadside bombings in Baghdad. The holy day commemorates the end of a 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed and one of the most revered Shiite figures. He died in battle in the seventh century and is buried in Karbala.
Don’t Miss
Peter Bergen: How Obama should run the war on terror
Double car bombing targets Shiite pilgrims; 16 killed
In recent years, insurgents have targeted Shiite pilgrims, who usually walk to Karbala from across Iraq as a demonstration of piety and as part of tradition. The city is about 60 miles (100 km) southwest of Baghdad. Last year, a flurry of attacks on pilgrims killed at least 48 people. In 2007, more than 180 pilgrims were killed in a series of attacks, most from suicide bombings in Babil province, through which the pilgrims pass. More than 30,000 Iraqi Security Forces troops have been deployed in and around Karbala this year to protect the anticipated millions of pilgrims heading there for Monday’s commemoration, according to Karbala’s military commander, Gen. Othman al-Ghanemi.
