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<< Previous   of   Next >> Associated Press  (click to enlarge) A U.S. soldier stands guard as Shiite pilgrims leave Baghdad on their way to Karbala, Iraq, on Sunday for Arbaeen, which marks the 40th day following the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussein, who is buried in Karbala.   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Do you have a news tip? newstips@heraldnet.com | 425.339.3400   Published: Monday, February 25, 2008 Bombers kill more than 40 Shiite pilgrims in Iraq Los Angeles Times and Associated Press BAGHDAD -- A suicide bomber blew himself up among Shiite Muslim pilgrims at a crowded rest stop Sunday, part of an eruption of sectarian violence that killed at least 44 people, injured 148 and tarnished one of Shiite Islam's holiest holidays. The bloodshed will put pressure on a truce first declared by a powerful Shiite militia in August. On Friday, anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr renewed the cease-fire for six months in a move U.S. and Iraqi officials hope will reinforce recent security gains. But patience with the cease-fire is wearing thin among al-Sadr's followers, who complain that their opponents are using it to target them. The bombing was one of at least three attacks Sunday on the throngs of Shiites who were walking to the southern shrine city of Karbala to commemorate the religious holiday of Arbaeen. The weeklong pilgrimage, which culminates Thursday, marks the end of 40 days of mourning after the anniversary of the seventh-century martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. Such pilgrimages are a frequent target for Sunni insurgents. Residents along the route set up tents offering the pilgrims food, water and a place to rest; some pilgrims will walk more than 100 miles to get to Karbala. It was at one of these so-called comfort stations, erected along a highway between Iskandariyah and Musayyib, south of Baghdad, that the suicide attacker struck Sunday. Iraqi security officials and witnesses said a man with explosives hidden under a black leather jacket mingled among the pilgrims and blew himself up. At least 40 people were killed and 105 wounded, said Dr. Ahmed Ajrish, an official at the Babil province health directorate. Fadil Talib, a civil servant, was in the crowd when the explosion happened. "All I remember is a loud roar of, 'God is great,' followed by a loud blast," Talib said from a hospital bed. "The pressure was so intense that all the sounds were muted. I saw flesh fluttering like feathers in the air. ... I fainted and didn't come to until here in the hospital." Sunni leaders denounced the bombing. Earlier Sunday, police said a roadside bomb exploded near pilgrims walking along a highway through the southern Baghdad district of Dora, leaving at least three dead. Half an hour later, suspected Sunni assailants tossed grenades at the pilgrims from a bridge spanning the highway, killing at least one, police said. U.S. Col. Tom James, commander of the 4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, said Iraqi security forces had established extensive security along the pilgrimage routes as well as a cordon around Karbala. "Unfortunately, just based on the complexity of these routes and the number of pilgrims it's difficult to completely secure them," he said. In northern Iraq, a Turkish helicopter crashed and eight soldiers were killed during a cross-border ground operation against Kurdish rebels, who planted booby traps on the bodies of their slain comrades, Turkey's military said Sunday. The guerrillas said they shot down a Turkish military helicopter near the Turkish-Iraqi border. The incursion began Thursday. The rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party are fighting for autonomy in predominantly Kurdish southeastern Turkey and have carried out attacks on Turkish targets from bases in the semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. The conflict started in 1984 and has claimed as many as 40,000 lives.

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