Female suicide bomber kills 41 in Baghdad

A female suicide bomber blew herself up among a crowd of Shiite pilgrims on their way to a shrine city in central Iraq yesterday, killing 41 people including women and children.

Officials said the attack that also wounded 106 people targeted a rest station where pilgrims had stopped on their long journey to Karbala, 110 kilometres south of Baghdad, for a religious festival.

"At 11.45 a.m. (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 the capital.

At least five women and six children were among the dead, a medical official said earlier.

"We were serving the people when the attack occurred inside a search tent for women," said Allawi Hassan, who was being treated at Kindi hospital in Baghdad.

"The moment the explosion happened I felt as if I was flying through the air. I saw men, women and children wounded before I fainted. I then found myself in hospital," added Mr Hassan, whose legs were hit by shrapnel.

The victims had been travelling on foot from the central province of Diyala to 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 in Shiite Islam.

Tens of thousands of Shiites, including many from neighbouring Iran, make their way at Arbaeen to pay homage at the Karbala shrine, walking as a sign of greater piety.

It is routine practice for pilgrims to be searched at transit food stations because of the risk of attacks.

Around 30,000 members of the Iraqi security forces have been deployed to Karbala for the holy festival which culminates on Friday.

Arbaeen pilgrims have been targeted in recent days, but yesterday's suicide attack was the deadliest this year.

Iraqi politicians and US forces have warned of rising violence ahead of a general election on March 7, the second parliamentary ballot since the 2003 US-led invasion which ushered in a deadly insurgency.

In recent months rebels appear to have directed their attacks away from strikes on religious targets to government buildings in Baghdad.

This has prompted the army to urge government officials to change their travel itineraries and avoid high-risk areas in the capital, the Baghdad military command said in a statement yesterday.

Factbox

A female suicide bomber blew herself up among a crowd of Shiite pilgrims in central Iraq yesterday, killing 41 people.

Here are some of the country's bloodiest attacks by female suicide bombers.

2008
February 1: At least 98 people killed in two suicide attacks on Baghdad pet markets, committed by two mentally handicapped women, each wearing suicide vests packed with explosives.

March 17: A woman suicide bomber blows herself up among pilgrims, killing at least 52 people in the Shiite holy city of Karbala.

June 22: A female suicide bomber detonates her explosive vest near a police patrol in Baquba, the capital of disputed central Diyala province, killing 16.

July 28: Three women suicide bombers detonate themselves in Baghdad on a Shiite pilgrim route, killing at least 25 people.

September 15: A woman suicide bomber detonates her bomb in a crowd in the town of Balad Druz, in Diyala, killing 22 people.

2009
January 4: At least 35 Shiite pilgrims killed when a woman suicide bomber sets off her explosives belt at the main Shiite mausoleum in Baghdad.

February 13: A woman detonates her bomb among women and children heading on pilgrimage in Karbala. 35 people are killed.

April 23: In eastern Baghdad, a woman suicide bomber mingles with women and children in a food queue and blows herself up, killing 28.

April 24: Two women detonate their explosives near one of Shiite's holiest sites in Baghdad, killing 65 people, including many Iranians.

2010
February 1: A female suicide bomber blows herself up among Shiite pilgrims proceeding on foot to Karbala, killing 41 people including women and children.