Baghdad: At least 50 people were killed and around 100 others injured Saturday in a suicide bombing targeting Shia pilgrims in Iraq, Xinhua reported.
The bombing took place around 9 a.m. in the southern city of Basra, police said.
A suicide bomber blew himself up near a police check-point when a crowd of Shia pilgrims was walking to a shrine in Al Zubair town, around 550 km from Baghdad.
Security forces sealed off the site as ambulances and civilian cars evacuated the wounded to hospitals, police said.
Shia pilgrims Saturday observed a major religious ritual, Arbaeen. Thousands of people marched from different cities towards the holy Shia city of Karbala, around 110 km from Baghdad, to commemorate the end of 40 days of mourning for Imam Hussein, Prophet Mohammad's grandson, who was killed at the battle of Karbala in 680 AD.
IANS
First Published: Saturday, January 14, 2012, 13:50