Baghdad Attacks on Shi'ite Pilgrims Kill 70 in 3 Days
VOA News 08 July 2010
Iraqi officials say attacks targeting Shi'ite pilgrims killed at least 12 people in the Baghdad area Thursday, a day after similar bombings in the capital left at least 50 people dead.
Investigators say Thursday's bomb attacks took place as tens of thousands of worshippers began to make their way home after attending ceremonies marking the death, 12 centuries ago, of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim, the seventh of 12 revered Imams in Shi'ite Islam.
Attacks against Shi'ite pilgrims in the Baghdad area killed more than 70 people during the past three days.
Iraq's government deployed some 200,000 security personnel to try to safeguard the pilgrimage.
Iraq's Shi'ite majority has been a target of Sunni extremists since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated dictatorship.
Meanwhile, police say at least two other people were killed, Thursday, when a bomb exploded near homes in Ramadi, a city about 100 kilometers west of Baghdad.
Insurgents have intensified attacks across Iraq in recent weeks in an apparent attempt to exploit a political stalemate that resulted from the country's inconclusive elections in March.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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