Pilgrim killed, 2 wounded in grenade attack in Baghdad

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A Shiite pilgrim heading for Karbala was killed and two others wounded in a hand-grenade attack in southern Baghdad on Saturday, according to a senior security official. “Unidentified gunmen hurled a hand-grenade from behind a concrete wall near al-Sayyediya area, southern Baghdad, causing the martyrdom of a pilgrim heading for Karbala to visit Imam al-Hussein Shrine and wounding two others,” Maj. General Qassem Atta, the official spokesman for the Baghdad Operations Command, told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The BOC decided to suspend the commander of the force entrusted with protection of pilgrims in this area,” Atta added. Meanwhile, an Iraqi police source told IraqiNews.com that a home-made bomb planted by unidentified persons on the main road in al-Sayyediya went off while pilgrims were heading on foot to Karbala to visit Imam al-Hussein shrine on the occasion of the arbaeen , killing one person and wounding four others. “The security forces sealed off the explosion site and rushed the wounded to the nearby al-Yarmuk hospital for treatment,” the source added. The arbaeen pilgrimage is a religious occasion marking the 40th 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 Hijri year 61 (680 in the Gregorian calendar). Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from inside and outside Iraq were flowing on foot into the city for the holy rituals. Tight security measures have been in force and a large number of security personnel have been deployed in Iraq’s holy sites in preparation for the occasion. Karbala, said to be housing the tombs of Imam al-Hussein and his brother Imam al-Abbas, lies 130 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. AmR (S) 2