BAGHDAD: A female suicide bomber blew herself up yesterday among a crowd at a revered Shiite shrine in northern Baghdad, killing at least 38 people and wounding about 72, the Iraqi army and police said.
The attack during one of the holiest periods for Shiites came just as Iraqi forces took the lead on security under an agreement with the US that went into effect on New Year’s Day.
Under that agreement, US forces take a back seat on security issues in much of the country following the Dec. 31 expiration of a UN mandate for foreign troops.
The woman, wearing a traditional black cloak, approached the gate to the shrine of Mousa Al-Kazim, one of the holiest men in Shiitism, witnesses said. She apparently blew herself while among a group of Iranians in front of the shrine’s main gate, they said.
“Around 16 Iranian pilgrims arrived here at this gate, they came from the market area and a few moments later a blast occurred,” Mahir Abu Mahdi, a witness, told Associated Press Television News.
The office of Iraqi army spokesman Brig. Gen. Qassim Al-Moussawi confirmed a woman wearing an explosives vest was responsible for the attack, which occurred just before noon in the northern Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah.
The attack came as Shiites prepared to mark Ashura on Jan. 7. Falling on the 10th of Muharram under the Islamic lunar calendar,
The Iraqi police and army have deployed thousands of forces to safeguard visitors, mostly those heading to Karbala south of Baghdad. The city is home to the golden-domed mosques of Imam Hussein and his half-brother Imam Abbas. Hundreds of thousands are expected to pour into the city on Tuesday and Wednesday night for the pinnacle of the occasion.
Maj. Gen. Othman Ali Farhood Al-Ghanimy, the Iraqi army commander in Karbala, said last week that thousands of foreign pilgrims had arrived for the holy day — including many from neighboring and predominantly Shiite Iran.
