Iraq pilgrims are killed by car bomb
A car bomb killed six Shia pilgrims today on their way to the holy city of Karbala in Iraq.
Hundreds of thousands were gathering to mark the end of Arbaeen, 40 days of mourning for the death in the seventh century of the Imam Hussein, one of Shia's most revered figures.
Thirteen were wounded in the blast in a car park, and a second bomb was discovered nearby and dismantled before it could explode.
The Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni group linked to al Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for similar attacks. Such groups have targeted Shia civilians, in part because of religious differences and because Shia parties gained power after the 2003 invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime.
Shia politicians have encouraged huge turnouts at religious rituals, which were banned under the former regime, as a demonstration of power.
Another two bombs in Baghdad today killed an Iraqi Army intelligence officer and his driver and wounded eight bystanders in strikes that hit a Shia and Sunni neighbourhoods.
A roadside bomb exploded near Tikrit as provincial governor Ahmed Abdullah al-Jubouri's motorcade was driving by, wounding five of his bodyguards. The governor was not hurt in the blast near Saddam Hussein's hometown, 80 miles north of Baghdad.
