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2nd LD: At least 40 Iranian pilgrims killed in Iraq's suicide bomb attack

Xinhua, November 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

Iran's Foreign Ministry announced Friday that at least 40 Iranian pilgrims were killed and 20 injured in a suicide bomb attack in Iraq on Thursday, state IRINN TV quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi as saying.

A suicide tanker truck bomb attack on Thursday killed some 80 Shiite pilgrims and wounded 31 at a fuel station in Babil province south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, Iraq's security sources said.

The pilgrims were returning home after observing a major Shiite ritual of Arbaeen in the holy city of Karbala, some 110 km south of Baghdad.

Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi condemned the terrorist attack, saying: "It is an indication of frustration," official IRNA news agency reported.

The terrorists launched such attacks to make up for the repeated defeats they have suffered recently, Qasemi said.

"Such brutal and inhuman acts are not going to affect the determination of the Iraqi people and its government; neither could they disrupt the Islamic republic's joint fight with Iraq against terrorism," he said.

"Iran's Foreign Ministry and the Islamic republic's embassy in Baghdad are seriously pursuing the case," he added. Endi