By Xinhua,
Tikrit, Iraq : A car bomb went off at a busy parking lot and a marketplace in a Shiite town in Iraq’s Salahudin province on Friday, killing at least nine people and wounding 40 others, a provincial police source said.
A booby-trapped car detonated at sunset at the main parking lot and popular marketplace in the town of Balad, some 80 km north of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The attack apparently targeted Shiite pilgrims who gathered at the town’s parking lot to travel to the holy city of Karbala, some110 km south of Baghdad, to mark a day ahead Shiite ritual, the source said.
The toll could rise as some of the wounded people were in critical condition, the source added.
Earlier in the day, a Shiite pilgrim was killed and 11 others were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion and mortar barrage in Baghdad, the police said.
Every year, thousands of Shiite pilgrims converge on Karbala to celebrate the birth in the 9th century of the Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi, last of 12 most revered Shiites Imams.
Shiites believe that Imam Mahdi is hidden and never dies, and according to their belief he will return at the end of the time to bring peace and justice to the mankind.
In August 2007, Karbala became the scene of turmoil when clashes broke out between pilgrims and security forces, resulting in the killing of 50 people and the wounding of more than 300 others.