BAGHDAD: A roadside bomb wounded four Shias on their way to prayer Friday morning in an attack that police said targeted pilgrims headed for a religious ceremony this week at a northern Baghdad shrine.
Police officials said the wounded were from a southern Iraqi province and were going to Baghdad’s Kazimiyah neighborhood, where Shia pilgrims are beginning to gather for the July 7 anniversary of the death of the seventh imam.
The blast, at 7:40 local time, went off next to Firdos Square, where US Marines pulled down a statue of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The explosion was felt blocks away in the central Karradah district.
Hospital officials confirmed the injuries. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.
Violence has dropped sharply in Baghdad from the days when the nation teetered on the brink of civil war in 2005 to 2007, but deadly attacks continue as insurgents try to re-ignite sectarian tensions by targeting religious shrines and other holy places.
Hundreds of thousands of Shias from around Iraq are expected to turn out for ceremonies in Baghdad marking the death of Imam Moussa Al-Kadhim, an eighth-century Shia saint. Shias pilgrims traditionally walk to the twin-domed Kazimiyah shrine where the imam is buried.
The anniversary of his death is not the most important among Shia ceremonies, but is still considered significant.
Firdos Square became a widely recognized Baghdad landmark after Marines hauled down Saddam’s larger-then-life statue in April 2003. Iraqis pelted it with their shoes and garbage.
