Iraqi security forces patrol as Shiite Muslim worshippers head to the holy shrine of Imam Abbas to attend Ashura celebrations
A suicide bomber struck a Shiite religious procession north of Baghdad on Thursday, killing 30 worshippers on one of the holiest days of their faith, medical and security sources said.
The bomber struck in the Shiite-majority Saadiyah area of confessionally mixed Diyala province, cutting through a massive security operation put in place for the climax of the Ashura festival, which has been hit repeatedly by Sunni militants in the past.
Another 65 people were wounded in the bombing, the officials said.
It was the third attack of the day to target Shiite devotees.
Earlier, coordinated blasts in the Hafriyah area, south of Baghdad, killed nine people, while twin bombings in the northern oil city of Kirkuk wounded five, police and medical sources said.
Millions of Shiite pilgrims, many from abroad, gathered in Iraq's shrine cities on Thursday for the climax of Ashura, a festival that marks the killing of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, at the hands of soldiers of the caliph Yazid in 680 AD and which has come to symbolise Islam's sectarian divide.