Shia pilgrims killed in Iraq blasts

At least 45 people have been killed in twin suicide bomb attacks apparently targeting Shia Muslim pilgrims near the Iraqi city of Karbala. More than 170 people were injured in the blasts, with the death toll likely to rise. The first attack struck Karbala's northern outskirts, while the second blast occurred about 15km south of the city. Mohammed Hamid al-Mussawi, the head of the Karbala provincial council, said: "Two cars parked outside the checkpoints to the city exploded at the same time." The blasts occurred on two routes being used by pilgrims traveling to the city to take part in the Shia festival of Arbaeen, which marks 40 days since the anniversary of the death of the 7th century Imam Hussein. Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, blamed the Karbala attacks on "takfiris," a term for apostates but used by the premier to mean suspected al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters. Earlier on Thursday, a roadside bomb was detonated among a crowd of Shia pilgrims at the Al-Rasheed vegetable market in southern Baghdad, killing one person and wounding nine, while another such blast in a central Iraqi town killed one and injured three, an interior ministry official told the AFP news agency.