August 7, 2009

At least 22 people have been killed in Baghdad after two roadside bombs exploded as Shia Muslims were being driven home from a pilgrimage, Iraqi police said.

Eighty people were also wounded in Friday's blasts in the Iraqi capital's impoverished Shia district of Sadr City, police said.

The worshippers were among hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who had flocked to Iraq's holy city of Karbala a day earlier to mark the birth of Imam Mohammed al-Mehdi.

Police said three people were killed in the first blast and eight wounded, and one person was killed and another five wounded in the second.

Shia worshippers

Another roadside bomb struck a minibus in eastern Baghdad, killing one person and wounding six others, a hospital source said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The blasts came a day after a roadside bomb targeted pilgrims on their way to Karbala, killing one and wounding four others.

Thursday's pilgrimage was the second major religious gathering in Iraq since the withdrawal of US troops from urban centres on June 30.

Attacks by al-Qaeda remain common, raising doubts about the Iraqi security forces' ability to stand alone.

Last week, a string of bombings targeted Shia worshippers in the Baghdad during Friday prayers, killing at least 29 people.