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Militants keep up attacks on Shiite pilgrims in Iraq

Attacks on Shiite pilgrims showed no sign of easing yesterday with at least 11 people killed by bombs and gunfire as they streamed toward a Muslim shrine ahead of a weekend holiday.

The targeted violence came a day after two suicide bombers exploded themselves among pilgrims lining up at a checkpoint, killing at least 120 people and wounding about 190, police and hospital officials said.

Yesterday, mourners carried coffins through Hillah, about 95km south of Baghdad, where a main street became a swamp of blood and debris after the twin attack. Bodies in plastic bags were lined up outside the city's hospital, where the wounded lay on gurneys in crowded hallways.

The Hillah bombings and other attacks on Shiites have been blamed on Sunni insurgents, trying to destabilize Iraq's Shiite-dominated government and push the country toward civil war.

The victims had been headed to Karbalah, 80km south of Baghdad, for weekend rites marking the end of a 40-day mourning period for the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. Hussein died near Karbalah in a 7th-century battle.

Khadija Tawfek Mouhsin, a pilgrim walking from Baghdad to Karbalah yesterday, said his brother was killed last year en route to Karbala, but that he was determined to make the journey.

"The terrorists give us the chance to go to paradise," the 39-year-old Shiite pilgrim said.

Community leaders in Karbalah met to discuss how to better provide security for the pilgrims, according to a statement from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office. The Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that it would deploy soldiers along the pilgrimage route.

Karbala's governor, Aqeel al-Khazalie, said 10,000 policemen were deployed in the city.
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