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At least 5 killed in Baghdad attack

Xinhua, October 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

At least five people were killed and 15 wounded on Monday in violent attacks across Iraq, an Interior Ministry source said.

Around noon a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest at a tent set up for Shiite worshippers to celebrate the Ashura festival in Shaab district in northeastern Baghdad, killing two people and injuring 12 others, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The toll could rise as many sustained critical wounds, the source said.

Insurgents frequently attack Shiite pilgrims who gather to perform their communal rituals, including Ashura, which saw its climax rite end on Saturday.

Ashura is to commemorate the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, who was killed and buried in Karbala in 680 AD.

In a separate incident, unidentified gunmen shot and killed a man and his wife and burned their bodies in the Shiite district of Husseiniyah, northeast of Baghdad, the source said without giving further details.

Near Baghdad, a soldier was killed and two others wounded when a roadside bomb went off near their patrol in Latifiyah area, some 40 km south of Baghdad, the source added.

Iraq has been witnessing some of the worst violence in years. Terrorism and violence have killed at least 12,282 civilians and injured 23,126 others in 2014, making it the deadliest year since the sectarian violence in the 2006-2007 period, according to a recent UN report. Endit