A female suicide bomber blew herself up among a crowd of Shiite pilgrims on their way by foot to a shrine city in central Iraq on Monday, killing 41 people including women and children.
Officials said the attack that also wounded 106 people targeted a rest station where pilgrims had stopped on their long journey to Karbala, 110km south of Baghdad, for a religious festival.
“At 11:45am, a woman wearing an explosives-filled belt blew herself up in the middle of a crowd of pilgrims going to Karbala,” said Major General Qassim Atta, spokesman for Baghdad operational command.
PHOTO: REUTERS
An interior ministry official gave the toll and said the wounded were being treated at five hospitals in the capital.
At least five women and six children were among the dead, a medical official said earlier.
“We were serving the people when the attack occurred inside a search tent for women,” said Allawi Hassan, who was being treated at Kindi hospital in Baghdad.
“The moment the explosion happened I felt as if I was flying through the air. I saw men, women and children wounded before I fainted. I then found myself in hospital,” said Hassan, whose legs were hit by shrapnel.
The victims had been traveling on foot from the central province of Diyala to Karbala to observe Arbaeen rituals.
Ministry of Defense spokesman General Mohammed al-Askari said the bomber came from Diyala Province, which is an al-Qaeda stronghold.
“Apart from today, there have already been 25 other attacks carried out by women suicide bombers coming from the province,” he told reporters.
Arbaeen marks 40 days after the Ashura anniversary that commemorates the killing of revered 7th century Imam Hussein, whose shrine is considered one of the holiest places in Shiite Islam.
Tens of thousands of Shiites, including many from Iran, make their way at Arbaeen to pay homage at the Karbala shrine, walking as a sign of greater piety.
It is routine practice for pilgrims to be searched at transit food stations because of the risk of attacks, with women getting special scrutiny as their faces are concealed.
Around 30,000 members of the Iraqi security forces have been deployed to Karbala for the holy festival, which culminates on Friday.
Iraqi politicians and US forces have warned of rising violence ahead of a general election on March 7, the second parliamentary ballot since the 2003 US-led invasion that ushered in a deadly insurgency.
Rebels had in past months appeared to have directed their attacks away from strikes on religious targets to government buildings in Baghdad. This prompted the army to urge government officials to change their travel itineraries and avoid high-risk areas in the capital, the Baghdad military command said on Monday.
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