Deadly Iraq attacks target pilgrims

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At least 18 Shi'ite pilgrims were killed and dozens wounded when a car bomb exploded next to them in the Karrada district of central Baghdad on Wednesday (June 13), police said.

Bombs targeting Shi'ite pilgrims in Baghdad and police in southern Iraq killed at least 53 people in different locations on Wednesday in a wave of attacks during a major religious festival, police and hospital sources said.

In Wednesday's attack on the capital, at least 18 people were killed when four bombs struck Shi'ite pilgrims across Baghdad as they gathered to mark the anniversary of the death of Shi'ite imam Moussa al-Kadhim, a great-grandson of Prophet Mohammad.

In the southern city of Hilla, two car bombs, including one detonated by a suicide bomber, exploded outside restaurants used by police, killing 22 people and wounding 38.

Two more car bombs killed four people in the mainly Shi'ite city of Balad.