A roadside bomb killed eight Iraqi pilgrims and wounded 18 today near a revered shrine. The bombing came as Iraqi Shias marked Arbain, one of the most important dates in their religious calendar, police said.
The bombing took place in central Kerbala, 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Baghdad, to which hundreds of thousands of Shias flock each year.
The rite marks the end of a mourning period after the death of the Prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussein in the 7th century.
Yesterday, the United Nations mission in Iraq condemned the targeting of pilgrims and incitement of sectarian tensions just as Sunni-Shia and insurgent violence in Iraq drops to its lowest level since the war.
Two Shia pilgrims were killed in separate attacks in Baghdad on Wednesday, while 16 people were killed in an attack near a Baghdad bus terminal.
Reuters