By Habib al-Zubaidi
HILLA, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide bomber detonated a vestpacked with metal ball bearings in a refreshment tent full ofIraqi pilgrims heading to a Shi'ite festival on Sunday, killing40 people and wounding 60, police said.
The U.S. military said it was trying to confirm reports 60people had been killed and 100 wounded in the bombing in thetown of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad. Womenand children were among the victims, police said.
The attack was one of the deadliest in Iraq this year andhappened despite a major tightening of security for the annualArbain festival in the southern holy city of Kerbala. It is oneof Shi'ite Islam's holiest events.
Most of the casualties were hit by the ball bearings, saida doctor at a hospital in the city of Hilla, where many of thewounded were taken. A wounded woman there said the attackhappened in a tent where pilgrims were offered refreshments.
"When we reached the area people invited us into a tent totake some rest and have some food. When we entered, there was ahuge ball of fire and we saw people lying on the ground," saidUm A'amr, who was being treated for multiple wounds.
Police and the U.S. military said the bomber struck hoursafter militants killed three pilgrims and wounded 36 others inan attack in southern Baghdad.
Captain Muthanna al-Mamouri, spokesman for police in Hilla,100 km (60 miles) south of the capital, said 40 people werekilled and 60 wounded in the Iskandariya attack.
The U.S. military said in a statement the attack took placeon a two-lane highway near a residential area through whichmore than 40,000 pilgrims had passed earlier in the day.
Tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers and police have beendeployed for the Arbain festival after suspected Sunni Arabinsurgents killed 149 pilgrims on their way to Kerbala for theevent last year, one of the worst spasms of violence since theU.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The pilgrims are particularly vulnerable to attack becausemany prefer to walk to Kerbala, 110 km (70 miles) south ofBaghdad. They believe the effort will bring them greaterspiritual reward.
Millions of Shi'ite pilgrims are expected in Kerbala forArbain this week, which commemorates the end of the 40-daymourning period following Ashura, a religious ritual that marksthe death of Prophet Mohammad's grandson in 680.
VEHICLE BAN
In the Baghdad attack, the pilgrims were hit by a roadsidebomb and then fired on by gunmen on a road used by pilgrimswalking to Kerbala, police said.
The U.S. military gave a different account, saying gunmenhad lobbed hand grenades at the pilgrims in Baghdad, killingone and wounding 17.
It said U.S. and Iraqi forces would increase patrols andcheckpoints, restricting vehicle access through key routes toKerbala from southern Baghdad.
Kerbala's police chief, Major-General Raad Shakir, toldReuters last week that 40,000 police and soldiers had beendeployed and Iraqi tanks were being used to protect the cityfor the first time.
All public transport, including bicycles, has been bannedwithin a 25 km (15.5 mile) radius of the city and 600 femalesecurity staff have been assigned to search women, police said.
Militants have used horses and carts, bicycles andmotorcycles in bomb attacks in the past. There has also been aspate of suicide bombings carried out by women in recentmonths.
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.
(Additional reporting by Michael Holden in Baghdad and Samial-Jumaili in Kerbala; Writing by Mohammed Abbas; Editing byRobert Woodward)
