At least 18 Shiite pilgrims heading to the holy city of Karbala for a religious festival were among 22 people killed on Thursday as a spate of bomb blasts rocked Iraq, security officials said. At least 17 were killed in a double attack by two women suicide bombers who blew themselves up among a crowd of pilgrims heading to the city, police Lieutenant Kazem al-Khafaji in Babil province said.
The women detonated their explosives-packed vests 50 yards apart and at a five-minute interval in Iskandiriyah 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of the capital, Khafaji added. The twin suicide attack left at least 40 more wounded, 13 of whom were in a serious condition, Khafaji added.
Earlier, another Shiite pilgrim was killed and seven others wounded by a roadside bomb in Baghdad's commercial district of Karrada as they set off for Karbala, around 110 kilometres (68 miles) south of Baghdad for Sunday's festival. Another explosion killed a policeman and wounded five of his colleagues near a checkpoint in the Zafraniya district of southern Baghdad set up to search pilgrims heading south.
Tens of thousands of Shiites are expected to flock to Karbala to venerate Imam Mahdi, an eighth century imam who vanished as a boy and whom Shiites believe will return to bring justice to the world. The Shiite community was once led by a series of infallible imams who were direct descendants of the Prophet Mohammed and his son-in-law Ali. When the Mahdi went into hiding, leadership of the community passed to the clergy.
In other violence, a car bomb targeting a police patrol near the restive city of Baquba, about 60 kilometres (35 miles) north of Baghdad, killed two policemen and wounded six, security officials said.