BAGHDAD — A woman hiding among Iranian pilgrims with a bomb strapped under her black robe killed more than three dozen people Sunday outside a Baghdad mosque during ceremonies commemorating the death of one of Shiite Islam’s most revered saints.
Also Sunday, the U.S. military handed over control of a group of former insurgents and tribesmen who worked with the U.S. to defeat al-Qaida in Iraq.
The suicide attack was the most recent in a series that has killed more than 60 people in less than a week.
Hundreds of worshippers had gathered in Kazimiyah, home to the shrine of Imam Mousa al-Kazim, one of the holiest men in Shiite Islam. The suicide bomber was among a group of Iranian pilgrims and blew herself up just outside the gates of the mosque. The office of Iraqi army spokesman Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi confirmed a woman wearing an explosives vest was responsible.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military handed over control to the Iraqi government on Sunday of the Sons of Iraq, a predominantly Sunni group of former insurgents and tribesmen whose revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq significantly boosted security in the turbulent Diyala province.
The Sons of Iraq movement began in Anbar province west of Baghdad in 2006 when its leaders became dismayed by al-Qaida in Iraq’s brutality and religious zealotry and apparently by the amount of foreign influence in the group. The revolt later spread to other regions.
The United States paid the group’s estimated 90,000 members nationwide about $300 a month each. Eventually, the members are to be either integrated into the Iraqi military and police or provided civilian jobs and vocational training.
Under the phased handover, which began last year in Baghdad, Iraqi authorities will continue that pay and education strategy. Last year, Iraqi authorities demanded the handover in Diyala take place in January, despite U.S. concerns that the date was too early for a province with an explosive mix of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.
The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been suspicious that the Sons of Iraq is a ploy by Sunni insurgents to gain time and money to regroup.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
