Two car bombs struck the Iraqi city of Kerbala today, killing five people and wounding 64 others, authorities said.
The bombs hit a restaurant and a security checkpoint one km from the Imam Hussein shrine, one of the holiest sites for Shia Muslims, in Kerbala, 80km south of Baghdad, police said.
Mohammed al-Mussawi, head of the Kerbala provincial council, said the blasts were about 500 metres from the provincial offices.
After the blasts, police heightened security around the Imam Ali shrine in the Shia holy city of Najaf, about 160km south of Baghdad.
Overall violence in Iraq has dropped sharply in the past two years but a series of explosions in recent weeks has underscored the country's fragile security as it struggles to end years of sectarian violence.
Yesterday, a series of explosions rocked a town in Iraq's western Anbar province killing six people, including an official of a political faction in former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's electoral list, which emerged with the most seats in the March 7th vote.
The election was seen as a crucial test for Iraq's young and tenuous democracy.
Reuters