Casualties from Baghdad bombing rise to 147

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The toll from the suicide bombing that targeted Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad earlier today has reached 147, an official spokesperson said on Monday. “Casualties from the suicide bombing that targeted a group of Arbaeen visitors have reached 41 dead and 106 wounded persons, according to recent figures from the Ministry of Health,” a spokesperson for the Baghdad Operations Command (BOC), Qassem Ata, told IraqiNews.com news agency. Earlier in the day, a security source said that a female bomber blew herself up among a crowd of Shiite pilgrims who were heading to Karbala in Bob al-Sham area, northern Baghdad, killing 13 persons and wounding 38 others. The pilgrims were heading on foot to the holy Shiite city of Karbala to celebrate the Arbaeen. The Arbaeen is a religious occasion marking the 40 th day after the death of Imam al-Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson and the third holiest figure for Shiite Muslims, in the battle of Taf in Karbala in the Hegira year 61 (680 in the Gregorian calendar). SS (P) 2