Scores dead in Iraq suicide blasts

At least 76 people have been killed in two separate suicide attacks in Iraq, police say. One bomber detonated his explosives in Baghdad, killing 28 people, while the other targeted Iranian pilgrims north of the Iraqi capital, leaving 48 dead. The blast in central Baghdad took place as a group of policemen were distributing relief supplies to Iraqis who had been driven from their homes during the sectarian bloodshed that followed the 2003 US-led invasion. Fifty people were wounded and at least five children were among the dead, police said. "It is a suicide bomber. Obviously that has the fingerprints of al-Qaeda," Major-General Qassim Moussawi, a Baghdad security spokesman, said. A medic at the nearby Ibn al-Nafis hospital said that five children and a woman were confirmed dead at the hospital. Pilgrims targeted The second attack occurred near Muqdadiya, 80km from Baghdad, in the northeastern province of Diyala. The suicide bomber appeared to have targeted a group of Iranian pilgrims in a restaurant. Most of the 48 dead were believed to be Iranians visiting Shia Muslim religious sites in Iraq, police said. Sixty-three people were wounded. The attacks were the latest in a series of bombings that have raised fears of a surge in violence as the US military plans for a full withdrawal by the end of 2011. Security has improved measurably in Iraq over the past two years, but attacks targeting the police are still common in some parts of the country, including the capital.