1st LD: 4 Shiite pilgrims killed in car bomb attack in Iraq's Baghdad

Four Shiite pilgrims were killed and 10 others wounded on Monday in a car bomb explosion in southern the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a police source told Xinhua.

The attack occurred around noon when a booby-trapped car detonated near a procession of Shiite pilgrims moving on foot at an intersection in Saydiyah district in the southern part of Baghdad, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The attack came as thousands of Shiite pilgrims are marching from Baghdad districts and from other Iraqi cities to the mausoleum of Imam Musa al-Kadhim in Baghdad's northern district of Kadhimiyah to commemorate the death of the seventh of the most revered 12 Shiite Imams.

Kadhim's tomb is in a golden-domed mosque in the center of the old part of the holy Shiite Kadhimiyah district.

Insurgent groups, including Islamic State (IS) militant group, frequently attacked Shiite pilgrims who perform communal rituals in the Iraqi cities, killing and wounding hundreds of them in attempts to provoke sectarian strife in the violence-shattered country.

Iraq is currently witnessing a wave of violence since the IS took control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions in June 2014.

Earlier, a report by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq estimated that 1,119 Iraqis were killed and 1,561 others wounded in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in March across Iraq. Endit