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Suicide bombers hit Shiites as Iraq unrest kills 41

Three suicide bombers detonated explosives

belts among Shiite pilgrims in Iraq on Thursday, killing at least 36 people,

while militants shot dead a family of five, officials said.

The deadliest attack hit the Dura area of south Baghdad, where a bomber

targeted pilgrims at a tent where they are served food and drinks on their way

to the shrine city of Karbala, killing at least 20 people and wounding at least

40.

Among those killed in the blast was Muhanad Mohammed, a journalist who had

worked for both foreign and Iraqi media, one of his sons told AFP.

He was the seventh journalist to be killed in the country in less than

three months.

Two more bombers targeted pilgrims in areas south of Baghdad -- one in

Yusifiyah, killing eight people and wounding at least 32, and another in

Latifiyah, killing at least eight people and wounding at least 18.

At Yarmuk Hospital in Baghdad, wounded people were rushed in on gurneys for

treatment. Those injured included children and an old woman whose face was

covered in blood.

One distraught man in the lobby of the surgery department repeatedly struck

himself in the face with both hands, overcome with grief.

In the street outside, empty wooden coffins sat on vehicles, while people

cried and screamed over the loss of loved ones.

Hundreds of thousands of people make pilgrimages to the city of Karbala,

many of them on foot, during the 40 days after the annual commemoration marking

the death of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, known to Shiites as Imam Hussein.

The 40th day, known as Arbaeen, falls on December 23 this year.

Sunni militants, including those linked to Al-Qaeda, frequently target

members of Iraq's Shiite majority, whom they consider to be apostates.

The throngs of pilgrims on the roads make for an easy target, and they have

been hit by a series of attacks in the past few days.

On Wednesday, a suicide bomber targeted Shiite pilgrims in Khales, north of

Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 10.

The toll would likely have been higher were it not for the selfless actions

of a policeman who embraced the bomber just before the attack, in an effort to

shield others from the blast.

On Tuesday, two attacks against pilgrims in and near Baghdad killed at

least eight people, and on Monday two car bombs targeting pilgrims south of the

capital killed at least 24.

Also on Thursday, militants dressed in army uniforms attacked the house of

an anti-Al-Qaeda militiaman in the Abu Ghraib area, west of Baghdad, killing

him, his wife and their three children.

The Sahwa militia are made up of Sunni Arabs who joined forces with the

United States from late 2006, helping to bring about a significant reduction in

violence.

They are often targeted by Sunni militants, who consider them traitors.

Violence in Iraq has surged this year to levels not seen since 2008, when

the country was just emerging from a brutal sectarian conflict.

More people were killed in the first eight days of this month than in all

of December last year.

And more than 6,550 people have been killed since the beginning of 2013,

according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.

Analysts say that widespread discontent among Iraq's minority Sunni Arab

community is a major factor fuelling the surge in unrest, while the civil war

in neighbouring Syria, which has bolstered extremist groups, has also played a

role.

And though the government has made some concessions aimed at placating

Sunni Arabs, including freeing prisoners and raising the salaries of Sahwa

fighters, underlying issues remain unaddressed. (AFP)