IRAQ: Three separate attacks kill six Shi'ite pilgrims in Iraq

Record ID: 352953

  • Title: IRAQ: Three separate attacks kill six Shi'ite pilgrims in Iraq
  • Date: 7th March 2007
  • Summary: (W3) SADR CITY, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MARCH 06, 2007) (REUTERS) IMAM ALI BIN ABI TALIB SIGN VARIOUS OF WOUNDED LYING ON HOSPITAL BEDS DOCTOR TREATING WOUNDED MAN MORE OF WOUNDED LYING ON HOSPITAL BEDS HOSPITAL CORRIDOR
  • Embargoed: 22nd March 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVACM615AFZCXUXVOPURQ9984KFC
  • Story Text: Six Shi'ite pilgrims heading for Iraq's holy cities were killed in three separate attacks in the Baghdad area. The attacks bring the total number of pilgrim fatalities to 82 across Iraq on Tuesday (March 6). Three separate attacks in Iraq have claimed the lives of six Shi'ite pilgrims and wounded a number of others.
    Police said a car bomb killed two Shi'ite pilgrims in southern Baghdad on Tuesday (March 6) as they were heading on foot to the holy city of Kerbala.
    The blast in the dangerous district of Doura also wounded 10 pilgrims, as part of a string of attacks against Shi'ite pilgrims streaming to Kerbala to mark for a holy day.
    Police and U.S. forces cordoned off the area to set off a separate bomb as an Iraqi soldier shouting through a loudspeaker, warning people to keep away.
    In a separate attack, gunmen in the insurgent stronghold town of Yusufiya, 15 km (10 miles) south of Baghdad opened fire on another group of pilgrims, killing one woman and wounding 11 people , hospital sources said.
    The wounded were taken to a hospital in the nearby town of Mahmudiya.
    In a third incident north of Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on Shi'ite pilgrims in Taji, killing three and wounding 14 others.
    Yusfiya is part of a cluster of towns known as the "Triangle of Death" south-west of the capital, where insurgents rule the streets, setting up impromptu checkpoints and killing Shi'ites heading to the holy cities.
    The area is also treacherous for Iraq's fledgling security forces, whom insurgents target for working with the government.
    Sunni Arab insurgents frequently attack Shi'ite pilgrims and sites in what U.S. and Iraqi officials say is a campaign to spark a sectarian civil war.
    These attacks were the latest on a day where separate attacks left 82 pilgrims dead.
    In the worst incident, two suicide bombers strapped with explosives walked into a roadside tent near the city of Hilla, south of Baghdad, killing 47 people and wounding 117, police said. The pilgrims had gathered inside the tent to eat and rest on their way to Kerbala, police said.
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