BBC: At least 12 people have been killed and about 40 others wounded in a car bombing at a Shia shrine in the Iraqi city of Kufa, Iraqi police say. BBC
At least 12 people have been killed and about 40 others wounded in a car bombing at a Shia shrine in the Iraqi city of Kufa, Iraqi police say.
Several of the victims are reported to be pilgrims from Iran.
The attack happened at about 0715 (0315 GMT) near the shrine of Maitham al-Tamar, some 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad.
It is the latest in a wave of bombings at religious sites in Iraq, despite attempts to crack down on insurgents.
Police said the bomb blew up two buses carrying the pilgrims. Witnesses said the vehicles were burnt out by the explosion.
A number of children were also caught up in the blast, reports say.
The BBC’s Adam Brookes in Baghdad says this bears all the hallmarks of a sectarian attack by Sunni Muslim extremists seeking to provoke Iraq’s Shia Muslims.
He says attacks on Shia holy places like this one have one very clear effect – they inflame the situation and render the Iraqi government’s plan for national reconciliation ever harder to bring about.
