Thursday, May 22, 2014

Bombings in Baghdad kill 32

(Iraq) Bombers targeted Shia Muslim pilgrims who were attending the anniversary of the seventh Shia imam's death in 799, visiting the shrine of Moussa al-Kadhim. Suicide bombers targeted pilgrims walking along main roads in the western area of Mansour and in Bab al-Sharji, in the city centre, while a car bomb exploded in Urr.

The deadliest attack happened in the Urr district, where a vehicle rigged with explosives blew up, killing at least 14 people, including seven children under 14 years of age. In Mansour, a man dressed in a long, black woman's robe, blew himself up among a crowd of pilgrims. At least six people were killed. The second suicide bomber detonated a car bomb in Bab al-Sharji, killing another 12.

The attacks come two days after the preliminary results of April's parliamentary elections showed Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's Shia-dominated State of Law alliance had won the largest number of seats.