By Prensa Latina,
Baghdad : At least 35 people were killed and 79 others resulted wounded when a suicide female bomber detonated herself on Sunday at a crowded checkpoint in northwestern Baghdad.
According to Qassim Atta, a spokesman for the Iraqi army in Baghdad, most of the victims were Iranian pilgrims making their way to a holy shrine in Baghdad to mark one of the Shiite Muslim’s most important religious holidays.
He said a woman wearing a belt laden with explosives was able to reach one of the security checkpoints near the shrine, which honors Khadim, considered the Seventh Imam. As she approached, she detonated herself amid the crowd of pilgrims.
Thousands of pilgrims are making their way to the shrine during Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, and in the days leading up to Ashura, the 10th day of Muharram.
Ashura marks the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad. Hussein and his followers were killed in 680 in Karbala.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi Police reported another episode of violence still under investigation which involves the death of a member of the Kurdistan Communist Party killed inside his house in northern Kirkuk, the province’s police chief said.
Mohieddin Rassoul´s body showed signs of having been shot and bruised in the head, the report said.