Iraq bombs kill scores of Shia pilgrims and police

Scenes of devastation after bomb blasts in Baghdad and cities in southern Iraq in which at least 57 people were killed Link to this video
Bombings and shootings targeting Shia Muslim pilgrims in Baghdad and police across Iraq have killed at least 66 people in apparently co-ordinated attacks during a major religious festival.

Violence in Iraq has eased off since the height of the war, but Islamists tied to al-Qaida are still a potent threat, often targeting Shia pilgrims in attempts to inflame the sectarian tensions that drove Iraq close to civil war in 2006 and 2007.

In the latest attacks in the capital, at least 18 people were killed when four bombs struck Shia pilgrims across Baghdad as they gathered to mark the anniversary of the death of the imam Mousa al-Kadhim, a great-grandson of the prophet Muhammad.

One of those blasts killed at least nine people as pilgrims passed through a police checkpoint in central Baghdad.

"A group of pilgrims was walking and passed by a tent offering food and drinks when suddenly a car exploded near them," said Wathiq Muhana, a police officer whose patrol was stationed near the blast in Karrada district.

"People were running away covered with blood, and bodies were scattered on the ground," he said.

Extra security and checkpoints have been in place this week as thousands of pilgrims arrive in Baghdad to meet at a shrine in the capital's northern Kadhimiyah district for the Shia religious festival.

In a separate attack on Wednesday in the mainly Shia southern city of Hilla, police said two car bombs, including one detonated by a suicide bomber, had exploded outside restaurants used by security forces, killing 22 people and wounding 38.

"When a minibus packed with policemen stopped near the restaurants, a car exploded near the bus," said Maitham Sahib, owner of a restaurant in Hilla near the blast. "It's heartbreaking. It is just sirens, and screams of wounded people."

Two more car bombs killed four people in the Shia city of Balad, a car bomb in Kerbala killed three and wounded 17, and another car bomb in Haswa, 30 miles (50km) south of Baghdad, killed one person and wounded four.

Five soldiers were also killed by gunmen in an attack on an army checkpoint in the south of the capital, police said.

Wednesday's attacks came at a sensitive time. On Sunday, at least six people were killed and 38 wounded when two mortar bombs struck a square packed with Shia pilgrims in Baghdad's Kadhimiyah district.

Earlier this month, 26 people were killed and more than 190 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive-rigged car outside a Shia religious office in the capital.

Al-Qaida's Iraqi affiliate, Islamic State of Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack on the religious office.

Political tensions have been high in Iraq since the last American troops left in December, with the fragile government – split among Sunni-backed, Shia and ethnic Kurdish blocs – feuding over their power-sharing accord.

The Shia prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is fending off attempts by Sunni, Kurdish and some Shia rivals to organise a vote of no confidence against him. Critics accuse him of trying to consolidate his position and failing to fulfil promises to share power among the blocs.