Attacks leave at least 60 Shiite worshipers dead
WASHINGTON POST
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Attackers using bombs, rockets and guns killed at least 60 Shiite worshipers Tuesday as they observed their most sacred holiday, Iraqi officials said.
The day's deadliest incident occurred in the town of Baladruz, in Diyala province in eastern Iraq, when a suicide bomber walked through the main gate of the Ali al-Akbar mosque and detonated his explosives, killing 17 people and injuring at least 57, according to Ali al-Khaiyam, a police spokesman.
The worshipers were marking Ashura, which commemorates the death of the prophet Muhammad's grandson in a 7th-century battle at Karbala, in southern Iraq. The city is the focal point of the 10-day festival, which culminated Tuesday.
At least 11 other Shiites observing the holiday were killed in Khanaqin, also in Diyala, near the Iranian border, after a bomb left at a market exploded, Khaiyam said. A roadside bomb killed 15 Shiites participating in an Ashura procession in Baqouba, the capital of Diyala, and injured at least 30 civilians, according to Brig. Sadoun Salih of the Interior Ministry.
Other violence
Five other people were killed in the province in other violent acts, Khaiyam said.
Violence targeting Shiites also broke out in Baghdad. A roadside bomb in the sprawling Shiite enclave of Sadr City struck an Ashura procession, killing seven people and wounding 23, Salih said.
In other neighborhoods, gunmen fired Katyusha rockets at processions and used machine guns to attack passing buses heading to Karbala, Salih added. He said at least three people died in those incidents.
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