Global General
20 killed in bombings in Iraq holy city during rite
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-02-05 20:07
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 Shi'ite Muslim women attend the religious ceremony of Arbain, which falls 40 days after the Shi'ite holy day of Ashura, in Kerbala, 110 km south of Baghdad, February 5, 2010. [Agencies] |
BAGHDAD: At least 20 people were killed and 75 wounded on Friday when two car bombs blew up in Iraq's holy city of Kerbala as hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite pilgrims observed a major religious rite, hospital sources said.
The attack on the final and most important day of the Arbain festival was the third major strike this week against Shi'ite pilgrims amid a political furor over the banning of candidates, many of them Sunnis, from standing in a March 7 election.
Police said the bombings occurred on the outskirts of the city 80 km (50 miles) south of Baghdad, but details were sketchy. Arbain marks the end of 40 days of mourning for Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, who died in a 7th century battle at Kerbala.
Overall violence in Iraq has fallen sharply, but Shi'ite gatherings are often attacked by suspected Sunni Islamist insurgents.
Banned under Saddam Hussein, Arbain and other Shi'ite religious events have drawn millions of Shi'ites not only from Iraq but also from neighboring countries like Iran since the Sunni dictator was ousted in the 2003 US invasion.
capital on Monday as they began the long walk to Kerbala.
The bloodshed added to sectarian tensions that have been rising as a result of an election ban imposed on almost 500 candidates suspected of links to Saddam's outlawed Baath party.
