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Over 100 Shia pilgrims killed in suicide bombings

Atul Aneja

Pilgrims were proceeding to Karbala for Arbaeen religious ceremony

Photo: AP

CAR CARNAGE: A suicide car bomber lies amid the wreckage of his vehicle in south Baghdad on Tuesday. In this and similar attacks in Iraq on Shia pilgrims streaming to the holy city of Karbala, over 100 people were killed and nearly 200 injured. One of the major attacks was at a street filled with tents in Hilla. Shias are heading to Karbala to commemorate Arbaeen, the end of a 40-day mourning period since Ashura, which marks the death of Prophet Mohammad's grandson in 680 A.D.

DUBAI: A double suicide bombing in the Iraqi town of Hilla killed 93 persons (according to AFP 118) and wounded 164 on Tuesday. Most of those killed were Shia pilgrims, who were on their way to Karbala, one of the most important pilgrim centres known to Shia Islam.

According to the police sources, two suicide bombers detonated explosives in the midst of a crowd, which had assembled to head for Karbala to observe the Arbaeen religious ceremony. The ceremony marks one of the most important dates in the Shia calendar as it is observed on the 40th day of the killing of Imam Hussein.

The bombings in Hilla are yet another reminder of the growing violence involving Sunnis and Shias in Iraq. There has been a surge in the sectarian conflict in the country following the attack on a key Shia shrine in Samarra more than a year ago.

At least 130 persons were killed in a lorry Baghdad early last month, marking the worst singe incident of violence in Iraq.

Doctors attending on the victims in Hilla were quoted as saying that at least 50 of the wounded were in a critical condition. Youth suffered the maximum casualties. The dead included women and children.

On a day marked by violence, nine American soldiers were killed in explosions north of Baghdad in a Sunni dominated area. The death toll was the highest since February 7, when 11 troops were killed.

Gunmen storm jail

Reuters reports from Mosul:

Dozens of gunmen stormed an Iraqi jail in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday and freed up to 140 prisoners in one of the biggest prison breaks since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the police said.

Militants attacked Mosul's northwestern Badoush prison just after sunset in the ethnically mixed city and overwhelmed police, who were forced to call the U.S. military for backup.

Most of the prisoners were believed to be insurgents, the police said.

It was unclear if there were any clashes between gunmen and police during the incident.

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