Iraqi authorities detained 50 suspects in connection with an explosion in the Shiite holy city of Najaf that killed at least 54 people and wounded 142, and thousands of mourners attended funerals for the victims on Monday. Car bombs tore through a Najaf funeral procession and a main bus station in the nearby Shiite city of Karbala on Sunday, where at least 13 people were killed and 33 were wounded. The deadliest attacks in Iraq since July were a bloody reminder that the Shiite heartland in the south and not just the Sunni regions of central and northern Iraq is vulnerable to the mainly Sunni insurgents aiming to wreck the country's key elections scheduled for Jan. 30. ... |