10 killed, 70 wounded in bomb attacks during Shiite rite in Iraq
A total of 10 people were killed and 70 wounded in series of bomb attacks on Friday and Saturday morning in the Iraqi holy city of Karbala during a major Shiite rite, police said.
The attacks started on Friday afternoon when two car bombs exploded at a garage near the Shiite shrine in northern part of Karbala, some 110 km southwest of Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 15 others, a local police told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Another booby-trapped car detonated late Friday in the town of al-Hindiya, some 30 km east of Karbala, targeting groups of Shiite pilgrims heading to the holy shrine of Karbala, killing six pilgrims and wounding 28 others, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
On Saturday morning, a motorcycle bomb struck a crowd of Shiite pilgrims in Karbala’s southern neighborhood of al-Mulhaq, killing a worshipper and wounding 27 others, the source said.
Karbala is the scene for a major Shiite ceremony commemorating the birth of Imam Mohammed al-Mahdi, the last of the 12 most revered Shiites’ Imams.