Dozens killed in Iraqi festival violence
The attacks came on the last day of the Ashura festival
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Tuesday, 30, Jan 2007 01:47
At least 36 Shia Muslims have been killed in two separate sectarian bomb attacks in Iraq.
The explosions came as Shias commemorated the martyrdom of the prophet Muhammad's grandson, Hussein, in the sixth century on the last day of the Ashura holy festival, an important date in the religious calendars of Sunni Muslims as well.
Earlier today a bomb left in a rubbish bin in Khanaqin, north-east of Baghdad, killed 13 people.
An hour later a separate suicide attack in Balad Ruz, which lies east of the capital close to the Iranian border, left 23 Shias dead. Local police have said that a man wearing an explosive belt was seen to detonate himself as worshippers gathered outside a mosque.
Police say that more than 90 people were wounded in the attacks, which both occurred in one of Iraq's most ethnically diverse areas.
While Ashura is a festival marked by all Muslims, the tenth and final day is a period of mourning for Shias over the death of Hussein.
The 680 battle of Kerbala is regarded by scholars as an event that underlined the schism between Shia and Sunni Muslims.
More than two million pilgrims have gathered in Kerbala today, but a massive security presence of 11,000 soldiers and police has so far seen no outbreaks of violence reported.