At least 100 Shiite pilgrims were killed and more than 200
wounded when they were heading for Iraq's holy Shiite city of
Karbala on Tuesday, underscoring the relentless violence despite a
recent massive security crackdown.
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up among a crowd of Shiite
pilgrims in Hilla, some 100 km south of the capital, leaving 90
people dead and 160 others injured, a local police source told
Xinhua by telephone.
The attack occurred when hundreds of Shiite pilgrims were
gathering on the main street of the city on their way to Karbalato
commemorate Arba'een (40 days after the day of Ashura), which marks
the death of Imam al-Hussein bin Ali, the grandson of Prophet
Mohammed, who was killed in the seventh century.
The Shiite-dominated city of Hilla has been repeatedly hit by
bombings in the past. On Feb. 28, 2005, a car bomb attack at a
medical center killed more than 110 civilians and wounded around
200.
Militants also carried out attacks against Shiite pilgrims in
the capital. At least 10 Shiite pilgrims were killed and 42 others
injured in three car bomb attacks in Baghdad, according to an
Interior Ministry source.
Some analysts fear that the latest upsurge of attacks targeting
Shiite pilgrims could fuel sectarian tension between the Shiite
majority and Sunni minority and cast shadows on the ongoing
security plan, which is widely seen as the last chance to restore
peace and stability in the war-torn country.
Meanwhile, the US military suffered a heavy loss with nine of
its servicemen killed and four injured in two bomb attacks north of
Baghdad on Monday and Tuesday.
Three Task Force Lightning soldiers were killed and another
injured as a result of injuries sustained following an explosion
near their vehicles, the military said in a statement on
Tuesday.
The incident took place when the soldiers were conducting combat
operations in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad on Monday, the
statement said.
An earlier statement said that six US soldiers were killed and
three others wounded when their vehicles were hit by a roadside
bomb in Salahud in province north of the capital on Tuesday.
The soldiers, assigned to the same unit, were conducting combat
operations in the volatile predominantly Sunni province.
About 3,180 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the
US-led war on Iraq broke out in March 2003, according to media
count based on Pentagon figures.
(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2007)
