KARBALA: Attacks against Shiites, including a suicide bombing that ripped through a procession, killed 41 people in Iraq Thursday despite massive security deployed.

The bloodshed came as tens of thousands of people including foreigners thronged Karbala for the climax of Ashura.

The suicide bomber, who was disguised in a police uniform, struck in a Shiite-majority area of mixed Diyala province, north of Baghdad, killing 32 people and wounding 80, security and medical officials said. It was the third attack of the day to target Shiites.

Earlier, coordinated blasts in the town of Hafriyah, south of the capital, killed nine people, while twin bombings in the northern oil city of Kirkuk wounded five.

Security measures have been stepped up, with more than 35,000 soldiers and policemen deployed to Karbala and surrounding areas.

Concentric security perimeters have barred vehicles from entering the city, while helicopters hover overhead.

The violence has prompted Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, himself a Shiite, to appeal to the United States for help in the form of intelligence sharing and the delivery of new weapons systems.

Meanwhile, the head of the national counterterrorism center says the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq is the strongest it’s been since a peak in 2006. Matt Olsen says Al-Qaiea in Iraq has increased the pace of attacks this year.

Olsen is testifying to a Senate committee on the current terror threat to the US.

Olsen did not say that Al-Qaeda in Iraq poses a direct threat to the US He says the group continues to operate in Syria as well.