Bombers kill 41 at Shiite rituals in Iraq

BAGHDAD — A suicide attacker and twin bomb blast Thursday targeted Shiites marking a somber religious ritual in Iraq, killing at least 41 people and wounding more than 100, officials said.

The ritual, known as Ashoura, is observed every year over a 10-day period and has in the past been marred by massive attacks by Al Qaeda and other Sunni extremists who see Shiites as heretics. This year, the attacks come amid an escalating campaign of violence by insurgents seeking to thwart the Shiite-led government’s efforts to maintain security.

The deadliest of Thursday’s attacks was in the town of Saadiyah, 90 miles northeast of Baghdad, where a suicide bomber struck a group of Shiites gathered for an Ashoura event. The explosion killed at least 32 people and wounded 75, two police officers said.

The Shiites at the Saadiyah gathering were recreating the 7th century battle of Karbala, a city in present-day Iraq. Ashoura commemorates the death of Mohammed’s grandson, Imam Hussein, in that battle.

Earlier Thursday, two bombs exploded simultaneously near tents set up to offer food and drinks to Shiite pilgrims passing through Hafriyah, a town about 32 miles south of the Iraqi capital, another police officer said.

The Shiites were making their way on foot to Hussein’s gold-domed shrine in Karbala, some 55 miles south of Baghdad, where authorities said more than 2 million pilgrims were expected to converge Thursday.

Ashoura attracts hundreds of thousands of Shiites to holy sites across Iraq. Security forces have imposed tight security measures in and around Karbala, as well as other Shiite cities and also Baghdad, sealing off areas where the Shiites, most of them dressed in black, were passing through or stopping to rest.

Some Shiites in the processions were ritually whipping their bodies with chains and knives in grief, drenching themselves in blood, which is part of the Ashoura.

On Tuesday, triple bombings struck a group of Shiites marking the Ashoura in the eastern city of Baqouba, a former Al Qaeda stronghold, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing eight people, including two children, and wounding 35.

Iraq has been hit by a surge in violence and insurgent attacks since April, when security forces cracked down on a Sunni protest camp in the north. The pace of the killings has soared to levels not seen since 2008.

More than 5,500 people died since April, according to United Nations figures. Thursday’s attacks bring the death toll across the country this month to 176, according to an Associated Press count.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attacks, but suicide attacks and other bombings — especially against Shiites and Iraqi forces — are a favorite tactic of Al Qaeda’s local branch.