22 dead as bombers target Iraq pilgrims

The eruption of violence follows nearly two weeks of relative calm, and threatens to enflame rising tensions among Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian groups.

The worst attack took place near Dujail, 50 miles (80km) north of Baghdad, where two car bombs exploded near pilgrims who were travelling on foot to a shrine in the town of Samarra.

The head of the Salahuddin provincial health directorate, Raed Ibrahim, said 11 people were killed and more than 60 injured in that attack.

“We heard thunderous explosions, and everybody went outside and saw burning cars and several bodies on the ground. Market stalls on both sides of the road were on fire,” said Naseer Hadi, who works in the Dujail post office.

The pilgrims were heading to Samarra to commemorate the death of two prominent Shiite Imams who are buried in the al-Askari shrine there.

A 2006 bombing at the gold-domed shrine that was blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq set off years of retaliatory bloodshed between Sunni and Shiite extremists which left thousands of Iraqis dead and pushed the country to the brink of civil war.

The attacks in Dujail came hours after a car bomb struck a bus carrying foreign pilgrims near the southern Shiite holy city of Karbala. Four people were killed and 12 wounded in that attack.

The explosion tore through the undercarriage and blew out most of the windows of the white and blue tour bus that got hit. Nusaif al-Kitabi, deputy chairman of the Karbala provincial council, said the bus was carrying pilgrims from Afghanistan.

In the town of Qassim, 78 miles (125km) south of Baghdad, a parked car bomb exploded near a bus stop, killing five people and wounding 20. The casualties included Shiite pilgrims who were heading to Karbala, said police and hospital officials.

Shiite pilgrims are a favourite target for Sunni insurgents who seek to undermine the country’s Shiite-led government and provoke a return to sectarian fighting.

In north-eastern Baghdad, a roadside bomb apparently meant to hit an army patrol missed its target and struck a civilian car, killing two passengers and injuring two others, said police and hospital officials.

Today’s bloodshed comes a day after a wave of attacks killed at least 33 people across Iraq in the country’s deadliest day for more than a month.