Iraq Watch: July 6, 2006

Suicide Bomber Targets Iranian Pilgrims

A suicide car bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into buses carrying Iranian Shiite pilgrims early Thursday morning near the Iraqi holy city of Kufa. At least 12 people were killed and 39 injured in the blast.

The fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq brought with it a lessening of travel restrictions for foreigners seeking entrance into the country and Shiites from across the Middle East have responded in mass with large numbers traveling to Iraq's holy Shiite shrines.

Large gatherings of Shiites are frequently the target of Sunni-led insurgents bent on increasing sectarian strife in Iraq.

Kufa's sister city, Najaf, contains the tomb of Imam Ali, one of Shiite Islam's most sacred sites.

Kufa is also a power base of support for maverick anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia.

Elsewhere Thursday, authorities announced the discovery of at least 35 bodies within the last day throughout the capital city. Many of the corpses bore earmarks of torture.

In Samarra, meanwhile, a roadside bomb at a security checkpoint killed three Iraqi police officers according to the Washington Post.