| Follow-up on yesterday's story. |
The deadliest single attack on the pilgrims was in Hilla, south of the capital, where two suicide bombers triggered explosives amid a packed crowd of worshippers walking to the holy city of Karbala, police Lieutenant Karim Al Hamzawi said.
Dr Mohammed Timini from Hilla Hospital’s emergency room said 90 pilgrims were killed and at least 160 wounded, as queues of ambulances and private cars brought in scores of bloodied bodies. “Among the wounded, there are 50 in a critical condition. Eighty percent of the casualties are young men, but there are women and children among the dead,” he told AFP at the hospital.
Tens of thousands of Shias are making their way to Karbala, a shrine city around 100 kilometres (70 miles) south of Baghdad, for the Arbaeen ceremony on Friday, despite threats from Sunni insurgents. Most of them are going on foot, leaving them vulnerable to attack. Arbaeen (40 in Arabic) marks 40 days after Ashura, the holiest day on the Shia calendar, commemorating the martydom in 680AD of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammed.