BAGHDAD ATTACKS ON SHI`ITE PILGRIMS KILL 70 IN 3 DAYS
Baku, July 8 (AZERTAC). Iraqi officials say attacks targeting Shi`ite pilgrims killed at least 12 people in the Baghdad area Thursday, a day after similar bombings in the capital left at least 50 people dead, VOA reports.
Investigators say Thursday`s bomb attacks took place as tens of thousands of worshippers began to make their way home after attending ceremonies marking the death, 12 centuries ago, of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim, the seventh of 12 revered Imams in Shi`ite Islam.
Attacks against Shi`ite pilgrims in the Baghdad area killed more than 70 people during the past three days.
Iraq`s government deployed some 200,000 security personnel to try to safeguard the pilgrimage.
Iraq`s Shi`ite majority has been a target of Sunni extremists since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein`s Sunni-dominated dictatorship.
Meanwhile, police say at least two other people were killed, Thursday, when a bomb exploded near homes in Ramadi, a city about 100 kilometers west of Baghdad.
Insurgents have intensified attacks across Iraq in recent weeks in an apparent attempt to exploit a political stalemate that resulted from the country`s inconclusive elections in March.
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