An Iraqi police officer looks at the wreckage of a
minibus, which was carrying Iraqi Shiite Muslim pilgrims, at the site of a
car bomb attack in Baghdad. At least 100 Shiite pilgrims were killed and
more than 200 wounded on Tuesday.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery
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BAGHDAD,
March 6 (Xinhua) -- At least 100 Shiite pilgrims were killed and more than 200
wounded when they were heading for Iraq's holy Shiite city of Karbala on
Tuesday, underscoring the relentless violence despite a recent massive security
crackdown.
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up among a crowd
of Shiite pilgrims in Hilla, some 100 km south of the capital, leaving 90 people
dead and 160 others injured, a local police source told Xinhua by telephone.
The attack occurred when hundreds of Shiite pilgrims
were gathering on the main street of the city on their way to Karbalato
commemorate Arba'een (40 days after the day of Ashura), which marks the death of
Imam al-Hussein bin Ali, the grandson of Prophet Mohammed, who was killed in the
seventh century.
The Shiite-dominated city of Hilla has been
repeatedly hit by bombings in the past. On Feb. 28, 2005, a car bomb attack at a
medical center killed more than 110 civilians and wounded around200.
Militants also carried out attacks against Shiite
pilgrims in the capital. At least 10 Shiite pilgrims were killed and 42 others
injured in three car bomb attacks in Baghdad, according to an Interior Ministry
source.
Some analysts fear that the latest upsurge of attacks
targeting Shiite pilgrims could fuel sectarian tension between the Shiite
majority and Sunni minority and cast shadows on the ongoing security plan, which
is widely seen as the last chance to restore peace and stability in the war-torn
country.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military suffered a heavy loss
with nine of its servicemen killed and four injured in two bomb attacks north of
Baghdad on Monday and Tuesday.
Three Task Force Lightning soldiers were killed and
another injured as a result of injuries sustained following an explosion near
their vehicles, the military said in a statement on Tuesday.
The incident took place when the soldiers were
conducting combat operations in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad on Monday,
the statement said.
An earlier statement said that six U.S. soldiers were
killed and three others wounded when their vehicles were hit by a roadside bomb
in Salahud in province north of the capital on Tuesday.
The soldiers, assigned to the same unit, were
conducting combat operations in the volatile predominantly Sunni province.
About 3,180 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq
since the U.S.-led war on Iraq broke out in March 2003, according to media count
based on Pentagon figures.
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