At Least 40 Dead in South Iraq Suicide Bomb Attack

At least 40 people are known to be dead following a suicide bombing in the southern Iraqi town of Iskandariya on Sunday. Officials said at least 60 people were wounded in the blast along the route to the Shi’a city of Karbala, where a religious festival was underway. Three died and about 50 were wounded in a second bombing on Sunday. A roadside bomb exploded in a southern district of Baghdad as pilgrims passed by. More attacks are anticipated this week as millions of Shi’as flock to Karbala in celebration of the end of a 40-day mourning period in memory of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein, who, along with his family, was killed in the year 681. On Sunday a Sunni leader who opposed Al-Qa’ida in Iraq was killed by a suicide bomb in Falluja.