Suicide bomber in Iraq targets holy Shia shrines

A suicide bomber blew himself up [2] at one of the major Shia shrines in Iraq on Sunday, causing an unknown number of casualties, AFP reported.

According to officials at the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala, the bomber [3] was an engineer working on a project between their site and the nearby Imam Abbas shrine [4]. 

The two shrines are extremely important to Shias, who make up a majority in Iraq. The country has faced a wave of sectarian attacks in recent months [5] following the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

The minority Sunni community claim that the Shia-led government is targeting them using new anti-terror legislation. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack on the shrines but analysts say the bombing has all the hallmarks of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

[6] © 2013 Al Bawaba (Albawaba.com)