Up to 27 killed in Iraqi blast
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Xinhua, January 14, 2012
Up to 27 people were killed and 90 wounded in a suicide bomb attack at a crowd of Shiite pilgrims in Iraq's southern city of Basra on Saturday, a local police source said.
"The latest reports said that 27 people were killed and some 90 others wounded in Basra suicide bombing," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The attack occurred at about 9:00 a.m. local time (0600 GMT) when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a police checkpoint among a crowd of Shiite pilgrims marching to a shrine in the town of al-Zubair south of the oil hub city of Basra, some 550 km south of Baghdad, the source said.
Iraqi security forces sealed off the scene as ambulances and civilian cars were evacuating the victims to nearby hospitals and medical centers, the source added.
Shiite pilgrims mark a major religious ritual of Arbaeen on Saturday, in their cites while hundreds of thousands of them march from different Iraqi cities towards the holy Shiite city of Karbala, some 110 km south of Baghdad, to commemorate the end of 40 days of mourning for Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohammad's grandson who was killed at the battle of Karbala in 680 A.D..
Insurgents frequently attack Shiite pilgrims who perform communal rituals in Iraq, in attempts to provoke sectarian strife in the violence-shattered country.
Iraqi cities have been plagued by several attacks, including suicide bombings, since the U.S. troops pulled out of the country earlier last month.
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