04 Jan 2009 10:06:34 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Female suicide bomber kills 35 at Shi'ite shrine
* Most casualties are pilgrims from Iran
BAGHDAD, Jan 4 (Reuters) - A female suicide bomber killed at least 35 people and wounded 65 in an attack on pilgrims entering a revered Shi'ite shrine in northwestern Baghdad on Sunday, the Iraqi government said.
The blast struck a checkpoint outside the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim shrine in Kadhimiya, a mainly Shi'ite 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.
"A woman wearing an explosive vest managed to reach one of the security checkpoints near the revered Kadhim shrine and exploded herself among a crowd of pilgrims," he said in a statement.
He gave an initial death toll of 35 killed and 65 wounded. Iraqi security sources said at least 38 people had died.
U.S. forces in Iraq came under an Iraqi mandate on Jan. 1 in step with a bilateral pact that will require the withdrawal of the 140,000 U.S. 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 U.S.-led invasion in 2003, violence has dropped dramatically from the peak of sectarian bloodshed in 2006-2007. But militants regularly stage suicide bombings such as the one that shattered the calm in Baghdad on Sunday and other attacks.
Twenty-five people, including women and children, were killed in a blast at a taxi and bus station in the same neighbourhood on Dec. 27.
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shi'ites will visit the holy city of Kerbala, 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Baghdad throughout the Ashura week to mark the death of Hussein, one of the most important events in the Shi'ite calendar.
In 2004, more than 150 Shi'ite pilgrims were killed in coordinated suicide strikes on shrines in Baghdad and Kerbala during the holiday, attacks which heralded the sectarian fighting that consumed Iraq over the next few years. (Editing by Tim Pearce)
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BAGHDAD, Jan 4 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed seven Shi'ite pilgrims and wounded 25 who were entering a revered Shi'ite shrine in northwestern Baghdad on Sunday , a source in the Iraqi army said.
The explosion took place at a checkpoint outside the Imam Moussa shrine in Kadhamiya, a mainly Shi'ite area of Baghdad, as Iraqi Shi'ites prepared for the important Ashura ceremony later this week which marks the death of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad.
Source: Reuters
TOLL IN IRAQ SUICIDE BOMB RISES TO 22 DEAD, 40 WOUNDED -IRAQI ARMY SOURCE
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QUOTE (according to an undercover agent with the Interior Ministry)
The latest attack took place at about 11:30 a.m. as a man dressed in a long black winter coat stuffed with explosives stepped into a crowd of Iranian pilgrims about to enter the golden-domed shrine in Kadhimiya and detonated his load, , according to an undercover agent with the Interior Ministry who was at the scene but spoke on the condition of anonymity.
"He was stuffed with explosives," the official said.
How brave and determined are Iranians who traveled to Baghdad via Diyala region despite knowing that Salafis are massacring Kurdish and persian type Iraqis in the region. I think they should be buried in Kazmain.
The suicide bomber struck meters from Bab al-Qibla, one of the four doors leading into the courtyard of the shrine, where two of the most revered figures in Shiite Islam are buried.
QUOTE (Mahdi Khosroabadi @ 50, a pilgrim from Tehran)
Mahdi Khosroabadi, 50, a pilgrim from Tehran, was close by when the bomber struck. He described the mayhem that ensued. Bodies and limbs were strewn everywhere. He recalled a young girl in tears standing over the bodies of her family.
"Why do they tell us to come, why?" he asked. "Security is still very bad."
After the attack, Iraqi policemen closed the road leading to Bab al-Qibla and prevented everyone including pilgrims and journalists from passing.
Kadhimiya and other shrine sites had been completely cut off to vehicle traffic for kilometers, and pilgrims were subjected to several security checks including a patting-down before they reached the shrine.
A group of women not far from the scene were baffled at how the attacker had penetrated the security cordon. One even insinuated that the security forces had been bribed.
"An Iraqi is blowing up Iraqis," she said. "Money has blinded everyone."
Saheb Karim, a resident of Kadhimiya, blamed loyalists of the former regime - who they say believe that Shiites have usurped power - for the attack.
One of the pilgrimage organizers in Kadhimiya, who gave his name as Sayyed Hassan, said he was shocked and disappointed with the performance of the Iraqi forces charged with protecting the area who had given him and other community leaders assurances.
"We were collecting limbs with our own hands," he said.
Most of the casualties were taken to the nearby Kadhimiya hospital, where an official confirmed that 16 Iranians were among the dead.
In the hallways, distraught and tearful Iranians, who spoke no Arabic, were communicating in signs with the hospital staff to inquire about loved ones.
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