A female suicide bomber blew herself up in a crowd of Iraqi Shia pilgrims today, killing 39 people and wounding 69 others during one of the holiest events of the Shia Muslim calendar, police said.
The attack on the pilgrimage route in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, came a day after a bomb killed eight in the Shia holy city of Kerbala, to which hundreds of thousands if not millions were headed to mark Arbain.
Arbain has been a frequent target of suspected Sunni Islamist bombers since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. It marks the end of an annual mourning period for the death in battle of the Prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussein in the seventh century.
Some pilgrims, hardened to attacks by insurgents over the last few years, said the bombs would not deter them.
The attacks occurred despite heavy security on the pilgrimage route. The ranks of troops and police patrolling Kerbala were boosted by 5,000 to 30,000, a city official said.
The Arbain rite, which culminates early on Monday, is difficult to secure because of the thousands of pilgrims who walk for hundreds of km, clutching religious banners.
Shia religious rites have drawn huge crowds in Iraq since the invasion that toppled the Sunni-led government of Saddam Hussein, who curtailed large Shia gatherings.
But the events have been bloody, targeted by Sunni insurgents such as al-Qaeda in the sectarian bloodshed that followed Saddam's fall. Al-Qaeda views Shias as heretics. A suicide attack during Arbain last year killed 63 people.
A recent sharp drop in violence helped allies of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki score victories in the Shia south in local elections last month. But the security gains are fragile, and suicide and car bomb attacks remain common.
Security sources have also warned of a possible rise in attacks due to Mr Maliki's strong electoral showing, as rivals and militants try to undermine the perception that the insurgency is on its last legs and that Maliki can claim some of the credit.
Reuters