Iraqi security forces remove the remains from the site where a suicide bomber drove a truck packed with explosives into a checkpoint in the town of Al Alam near Tikrit yesterday.
BAGHDAD: Violence across Iraq, including bombings against Shias, killed 30 people yesterday as worshippers massed in a shrine city on the eve of major commemoration rituals often targeted by militants.
The bloodshed was the latest in a months-long surge in unrest that has forced Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki to appeal for US help in combatting militancy as Iraqi action has failed to stem the unrelenting wave of attacks. Bombings mostly struck north and west of Baghdad, targeting Shias and members of the security forces.
On the outskirts of Baquba, north of the capital and one of Iraq’s most violent areas, three coordinated bombs struck a gathering of Shia pilgrims marking Ashura. Eight people were killed and 28 others were wounded in the blasts, security and medical officials said.
Millions of Shias from Iraq and around the world mark Ashura, which this year climaxes today, by setting up procession tents where food is distributed to passers-by and pilgrims can gather, or by walking to Karbala, which is home to a shrine to Imam Hussein.
Hussein, grandson of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed, was killed by the armies of the caliph Yazid in 680 AD and his death in Karbala has over time come to symbolise the split between Sunni and Shia sects.
Tradition holds that the venerated imam was decapitated and his body mutilated. Throngs of modern-day Shias beat their chests and self-flagellate during Ashura to show their historic guilt for not coming to Hussein’s aid. Sunni militants linked to Al Qaeda, often step up their targeting of Iraq’s majority community during Ashura and the subsequent rituals of Arbaeen.
In past years, pilgrims have been targeted by deadly bombings. As a result, security measures are stepped up with more than 35,000 soldiers currently deployed to Karbala and surrounding areas. AFP
