Car bombs aim at Shiite pilgrims in Kerbala, more than 50 dead

 

Grieving survivors of one of the blasts in Kerbala.

At least 51 people have been killed in twin suicide bomb attacks near the holy city of Karbala which appeared to target Shia pilgrims. Some 180 people were injured in the blasts, with the death toll likely to rise.
The first attack struck Karbala's northern outskirts, while the second blast occurred about 15km south of the city, the AFP news agency reported. The blasts occurred on two routes being used by pilgrims travelling to the city to take part in the Shia festival of Arbaeen, which marks the 40th day after the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussein.
Earlier on Thursday, a roadside bomb was detonated among a crowd of Shia pilgrims at the Al-Rasheed vegetable market in southern Baghdad, killing one person and wounding nine, while another such blast in a central Iraqi town killed one and injured three, an interior ministry official told AFP.

In another incident, a suicide bomber blew up an explosives-packed car outside a police office in Baquba, central Iraq. Police say three people were killed including a traffic policeman. It was th second bomb against a police office in Baquba in as many days. The second bomb on Thursday, blew up just a few blocks away from the site of a large suicide car bomb attack against another security agency on Wednesday