Updated on
Summary At least 19 people were killed and dozens were injured in two blasts on Saturday.
Two car bombs targeting Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad killed at least 19 people and wounded dozens more on Saturday, marring the peak day of commemorations for a revered Shiite imam.A medical source said that Baghdad hospitals had received 47 wounded people and the bodies of nine others from the first car bomb attack.An interior ministry official put the toll from the 12:15 pm (0915 GMT) blast on a highway near Shuala in north Baghdad at 14 dead and 32 wounded.A second bomb exploded at the Sanaa intersection in Shuala at about 2:00 pm, with the medical source saying hospitals had received 95 wounded and 10 bodies from the blast.The interior ministry official put the toll from the second attack at 18 killed and 36 wounded.The attacks came as tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims flocked to the Kadhimiyah area of the city for the climax of commemorations marking the death in 799 of Imam Musa Kadhim, the seventh of 12 revered Shiite imams.On Wednesday, 72 people were killed and more than 250 wounded in bomb and gun attacks across the country, with Al-Qaedas local affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq, claiming responsibility.Violence has declined dramatically since the 2006-2007 peak of sectarian bloodshed, but attacks remain common, especially in Baghdad. A total of 132 Iraqis were killed in May, official figures show.
