A suicide bomber killed at least 38 people and wounded 65 in an attack on pilgrims entering a Shia shrine in northwestern Baghdad today, the Iraqi government said.
The attack struck a checkpoint outside the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim shrine in Kadhimiya, a mainly Shia area of Baghdad, as Shi'ites prepared for the Ashura holiday this week marking the death of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad.
Most of the casualties were pilgrims from Iran, security spokesman Major-General Qassim Moussawi said.
Mr Moussawi had earlier said the bomber was female but later said an investigation of the scene concluded it was a man
Mr Moussawi said the government had ordered an investigation and a tightening of security surrounding the pilgrimage.
"There were bodies everywhere, some of them missing legs and arms. This is a disaster," said eyewitness Said Qassim, who was distributing food to pilgrims nearby at the time of the blast.
"I can't understand how ... No one can get in here without going through seven checkpoints," he said.
A Shi'ite cleric called on Iraqi security forces to be "more awake" and for the planners of the bombing to be punished.
"The Iraqi people will not bow down to such crimes. We'll teach those people who did this unforgettable lessons," Mohammed Taqi al-Mudarisi said in a statement from his office in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf.
Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi blamed al Qaeda-linked groups in a statement, calling them "terrorist gangs".
"Al Qaeda have no place in Iraq. Their dark hatred against Iraqi people will only increase their solidarity and resolve to defeat terrorists, criminals and killers," he said.
US forces in Iraq came under an Iraqi mandate on January 1st in step with a bilateral pact that will require the withdrawal of the 140,000 US troops by the end of 2011. As the United States reduces its activities in Iraq, local forces are taking greater responsibility for security.
Almost six years after the US-led invasion in 2003, violence has dropped dramatically from the peak of sectarian bloodshed in 2006-2007. But militants regularly stage suicide bombings and other attacks.
Twenty-five people, including women and children, were killed in a blast at a taxi and bus station in the same Baghdad neighbourhood on December 27th.
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shias will visit the holy city of Kerbala, 80 kilometres southwest of Baghdad throughout the Ashura week to mark the death of Hussein, one of the most important events in the Shia calendar.
In 2004, more than 150 Shia pilgrims were killed in coordinated suicide strikes on shrines in Baghdad and Kerbala during the holiday.
US forces are slowly disengaging from day-to-day patrols as they prepare to withdraw forces from towns by mid-2009. Today, they put the Iraqi government in charge of mainly Sunni Arab tribal guards in Diyala province north of Baghdad.