26 killed in staggered explosions across Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) — Explosions killed at least 26 people across Iraq on Thursday, most of them Shiite pilgrims taking part in a holy mourning ceremony, authorities said, raising fears of further sectarian attacks at the approach of Shiite Islam’s most solemn occasion.

The deaths came three days before the climax of Ashoura, when hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims converge on the central city of Karbala to mourn the killing of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein, in an A.D. 680 battle that sealed the split between Shiites and Sunnis.

Though Thursday’s attacks were smaller than similar bombings in previous years, they demonstrate that insurgents continue to incite sectarian tensions.

First came news of twin explosions targeting Shiite Muslim pilgrims in a central Iraqi town. The bombs killed at least 13 people and injured 74 others, authorities said.

Police Maj. Muthana Khalid said the first bomb exploded around 2 p.m. Thursday in Hillah, the capital of Babil province, about 60 miles south of Baghdad. He said the second explosion there came as police rushed to the scene 15 minutes later, a common tactic used by insurgents to maximize casualties.

The bombs targeted Shiite pilgrims who had gathered near a bus station in downtown Hillah, which is about 25 miles southeast of Karbala. People from around southern Iraq, which is overwhelmingly Shiite, make up the bulk of pilgrims traveling to Karbala.

A wrecked car lay at the attack site, and a pair of blood-covered slippers could be seen near damaged storefronts.

Among the dead was provincial councilman Nima Jassim al-Bakri, who was also a doctor, several authorities and a colleague said.

Khalid, the police spokesman, and Hillah councilman Iskandar Witwit said al-Bakri was driving to the attack site but was shot by a guard after he failed to stop at a checkpoint, and the guard thought he was an attacker, Khalid and Witwit said.

At the second incident, in Baghdad, a bomb targeting a funeral killed nine and wounded 33 in Sadr City, a predominantly Shiite neighborhood, police and hospital officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.

Then in a southern Baghdad neighborhood, a bomb killed four Shiite pilgrims and wounded 10 others on their way to Karbala, police and hospital officials said.