A double suicide attack killed at least 19 Shi’ite pilgrims and wounded 75 in a town outside Iskandariya Aug. 14. Two female suicide bombers detonated their explosives vests amid the group of pilgrims headed for Karbala to commemorate the birth of the Twelfth Imam. In another incident, a roadside bomb killed at least two pilgrims and wounded seven more as they walked through Karrada, a central Baghdad’s neighborhood, embarking on the pilgrimage. (AlJazeera, Aug. 14)
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Iraq: still more pilgrims killed
Shi’ite pilgrims were targeted for deadly attack Aug. 16 for a third consecutive day, when a car bomb killed at least three in the Baghdad neighborhood of Shaab as the pilgrims were boarding minibuses bound for Karbala. On the 15th, a passenger van packed with explosives blew up at a bus station in Balad, north of Baghdad, killing nine and wounding 40. (AP, Aug. 16)