Iranian pilgrims killed, injured in terrorist bombing in Baghdad

TEHRAN,Oct.28(MNA) – A terrorist blast hit a bus full of Iranian pilgrims in Baghdad on Saturday, killing five and injuring 12 Iranian nationals. The bus was carrying Iranian pilgrims to a Baghdad shrine. The terrorists had reportedly attached a sticky bomb to the bus. “The blast exploded around 300 meters from our checkpoint. The bus went out of control, hit another car, and flipped over on its side,” said a police officer at the scene, Reuters reported. According to Reuters, Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda’s Iraq wing often target Shias in an attempt to stir up the kind of sectarian tensions that dragged the country close to civil war in 2006-2007. Insurgents have carried out at least one major attack a month since the last U.S. troops left in December. The monthly death toll from attacks in Iraq doubled in September to 365, the highest number of casualties in two years, including a series of bombings targeting Shia neighborhoods that killed more than 100 people. Shia holy cities in Iraq attract hundreds of Iranian pilgrims every day. It is not the first time that Iranian pilgrims have come under deadly attacks by terrorists with the aim of fomenting religious division.