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M. Continuo

Attack on Shi'ite pilgrims kills three in Iraq


    BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Militants attacked a group of pilgrims in Baghdad on Sunday as they walked to one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest festivals, killing three people and wounding 36, Iraqi police said.

    They said the pilgrims were hit by a roadside bomb and thenfired on by gunmen in Doura, a southern district of Baghdad, ona road used by hundreds of pilgrims walking on foot to thefestival of Arbain in the holy southern Shi'ite city ofKerbala.

    Millions of Shi'ite pilgrims are expected in Kerbala forthe festival this week, which commemorates the end of the40-day mourning period following Ashura, a religious ritualthat marks the death of Prophet Mohammad's grandson in 680.

    Security has been ramped up compared to previous years,Kerbala's police chief Major-General Raad Shakir told Reuterslast week, and tanks are being used to protect the city for thefirst time, in addition to 40,000 police and soldiers.

    In previous years, militants have killed scores of pilgrimsin suicide bombings and other attacks. Sunni Islamist al Qaedaviews Shi'ites, a majority in Iraq but a minority in the Muslimworld, as heretics.

    (Writing by Mohammed Abbas; editing by Sami Aboudi)