Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims poured into Iraq's holy city of Kerbala on Saturday, defying bomb attacks across the country to attend a rite that has become an annual show of strength for the Shia majority. Many of the pilgrims have walked for days in temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) to mark the birth of Imam Mohammed al-Mehdi.
A bomb in a parked car struck pilgrims walking in Baghdad early on Saturday, killing six and wounding 10, police said. Late on Friday, a van packed with explosives was detonated at a bus station where pilgrims were assembling in Balad, a Shia town in a mainly Sunni area north of Baghdad, killing nine people and wounding 40, according to police.
On Thursday, a female suicide bomber killed 19 pilgrims and wounded 75 when she blew herself up amid a group making the journey on foot near Isk year's pilgrimage was marked by gun battles between Shia factions and Iraqi security forces.
"Thank God the situation is under control. We haven't observed any security violations. People are happy and cooperating with security forces," said Captain Abdullah Muhammad of the Iraqi army in Kerbala. "This year we haven't seen the pilgrims holding pictures of clerics or shouting against the government like last year."
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