Female suicide bomber kills 41 in Baghdad

A female suicide bomber blew herself up among a crowd of Shiite pilgrims on their way by foot to a shrine city in central Iraq on Monday, killing 41 people, including women and children, officials said. The attack took place while the pilgrims had stopped over at a rest station as they made their long journey to Karbala, 110 kilometres (68 miles) south of the Iraqi capital, for a religious festival. "At 11.45 am (0845 GMT), a woman wearing an explosives-filled belt blew herself up in the middle of a crowd of pilgrims going to Karbala," said Major General Qassim Atta, spokesman for Baghdad operational command.

An interior ministry official gave the toll and said the wounded were being treated at five hospitals in Baghdad. A medical official said initial reports indicated that five women and six children were among the dead. The victims had been travelling on foot from the central province of Diyala and had stopped at a food tent set up for pilgrims heading for Karbala to observe Arbaeen rituals. Arbaeen marks 40 days after the Ashura anniversary that commemorates the killing of revered 7th century Imam Hussein, whose shrine is considered one of the holiest places of Shiite Islam.

Tens of thousands of Shiites, including many from neighbouring Iran, make their way at Arbaeen to pay homage at the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala, walking as a sign of greater piety. The culmination of Arbaeen is on Friday and pilgrims have for days been seen at roadsides around Baghdad as they make their journeys south. Around 30,000 members of the Iraqi security forces have been deployed to Karbala to safeguard the holy festival. Monday's suicide attack was the deadliest in Iraq this year, although recent days have seen a series of attacks on Arbaeen pilgrims.

Iraqi politicians and US forces have warned of rising violence ahead of the March 7 vote, the second parliamentary ballot since the 2003 US-led invasion ousted Saddam Hussein but ushered in a deadly and long-lasting insurgency. A suicide bomb attack at Iraq's forensics headquarters in Baghdad last Tuesday, claimed by an Al-Qaeda group, killed 18 people and wounded 80 others. The same group, the Islamic State of Iraq, admitted responsibility for three deadly bomb attacks on Baghdad hotels the previous day, huge blasts that killed at least 36 people and wounded 71. Nearly 400 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded last year in coordinated vehicle bombings at government buildings, including the ministries of finance, foreign affairs and justice in August, October and December.

Figures compiled by the health, interior and defence ministries and released late Sunday showed that a total of 196 Iraqis were killed in violence in January, a slight rise on the toll for the same month in 2009. The figures showed that 135 civilians, 41 police and 20 soldiers died, five more than the 191 Iraqis killed in January of last year.