Officials: Iraq bomb injures 24 Pakistani pilgrims

Baghdad: Iraqi officials say a roadside bomb blast outside Baghdad has injured 24 Pakistani pilgrims. Their bus overturned as it headed to a Shiite shrine.

Police say the bomb exploded on Sunday evening as the bus was passing by the predominantly Sunni suburb of Saqlawiyah, located 75 kilometers west of Baghdad.

The bus was filled with Pakistani pilgrims who were headed from Syria to the gold-domed shrine to a Shiite imam in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kazimiyah.

A medical employee at a nearby hospital says 19 passengers were hurt by the blast, and another five were wounded when the bus overturned.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to reporters.
PTI