Iraq: At least 37 Shiites killed in blasts

A suicide car bomb devastated a Shiite mosque in northern Iraq, one of a number of attacks Friday that killed at least 37 Shiite pilgrims. The deadliest attack reported in Rasheediyah, north of Mosul, when a suicide car bomb rocked a mosque, killing at least 30 people. An official said at least 88 were injured in the blast. 

Earlier, a series of roadside explosions targeted Shiite pilgrims returning from the southern city of Karbala to the Iraqi capital Friday, killing at least seven people, Iraqi sources said. According to the AP, the first of three bombs went off at about 9:10 a.m., targeting a minibus with pilgrims as it entered the Shiite slum of Sadr City, a police official said. The attack killed four pilgrims and injured eight others, the official said. The

Later, two near simultaneous blasts near the Shaab football stadium in eastern Baghdad killed three pilgrims as they were walking home to Sadr City, said a police source. At least 13 pilgrims were wounded in the two blasts.

The Shiites mark the mid-Shaban visit and Imam Mohammad Mahdi’s Birth Anniversary. According to Iraqi sources, security forces intensified their measures despite the fact that violence has dramatically fallen off in the country in the past two years.