Attacks on Shi'ite pilgrims in Iraq

Bombers killed at least 50 Shi'ite pilgrims in Iraq on Wednesday and also struck police for a third day in a row, in a wave of violence posing a challenge to Iraqi security forces as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw. More than 100 people have died and hundreds have been wounded since Tuesday in bomb attacks that bear the hallmarks of Sunni Arab insurgents, showing they remain a potent threat even as Washington prepares to remove its final troops this year. Most of Thursday's dead were pilgrims pouring into the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala ahead of the culmination of an annual rite which is often attacked by Sunni Islamist al Qaeda. Two car bombs killed 50 people and wounded around 150 near Kerbala, 80 km south of Baghdad, on different roads into the city, said Mohammed al-Moussawi, head of the Kerbala provincial council. The explosions struck simultaneously on the outskirts of the city outside a security cordon of checkpoints set up to protect pilgrims, he said. An official from the Health Ministry in Baghdad put the death toll at 50, and said 203 were wounded, while police and Interior Ministry sources in the capital said they had heard suicide bombers wearing explosive vests were involved.