E-Paper
Six killed, including two Shiite pilgrims, in Iraq violence
Six people were killed, including two Shiite pilgrims, in three attacks in Baghdad on Saturday ahead of the climax of Ashura commemoration ceremonies, officials said.
Six people were killed, including two Shiite pilgrims, in three attacks in Baghdad on Saturday ahead of the climax of Ashura commemoration ceremonies, officials said.
Two worshippers were killed and eight others wounded when a bomb struck a procession in the eastern neighbourhood of Baghdad Jadida (New Baghdad) in the afternoon, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The 10-day Ashura rituals commemorate the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, by armies of the caliph Yazid in 680.
Ashura, which means tenth in Arabic, falls on the tenth day of the Muslim month of Muharram. The festival's climax this year falls on December 27.
Tradition holds that Hussein was decapitated and his body mutilated by Yazid's armies.
In a separate attack in the east Baghdad neighbourhood of Fedhailia, three people were killed and five wounded by a bomb, according to an interior ministry official who did not want to be named.
Also on Saturday army Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Khalil was shot dead by unidentified gunmen along a main road in east Baghdad, the official added.
