Bomb Attack on Shi'ite Pilgrims in Baghdad Kills 7: Sources

Baghdad: A suicide bomber killed seven people, including two police, in an attack on a Shi'ite Muslim procession on Monday in a northern Baghdad neighbourhood, police and medical sources said.

The explosion, which left 23 others wounded, was one of few attacks reported in Iraq over the weekend as Shi'ites across the Muslim world marked the holy day of Ashura, which commemorates the slaying of Prophet Mohammad's grandson Hussein in AD 680.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but Islamic State militants who seized swathes of northern and western Iraq last year have claimed similar bombings on Shi'ite targets.

Iraq is also gripped by a sectarian conflict mostly between Shi'ites and Sunnis that has been exacerbated by the rise of the ultra-hardline Sunni insurgents of Islamic State.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry confirmed that the blast, caused by an assailant wearing an explosive vest, had resulted in several deaths and injuries.

Security during Ashura has been tight since suspected al Qaeda suicide bombers and mortar fire killed 171 people during the rituals in Kerbala and Baghdad in 2004, though attacks have continued.