FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS 32 IN IRAQ (REUTERS REPORTS)

Female bomber kills 32 on Iraqi pilgrimage route

Fri Feb 13, 2009 5:14am EST
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE51A1HI20090213

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A female suicide bomber killed 32 people and wounded 84 others south of Baghdad on Friday when she blew herself up on a major Shi'ite religious pilgrimage route, police said.

The attack in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of the capital, came a day after a bomb killed eight people in the southerly Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are heading to Kerbala to mark Arbain, one of the most important dates in the Shi'ite religious calendar.
The Arbain rite marks the end of a mourning period after the anniversary of the death in the seventh century of the Prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussein.
The attacks occurred despite heavy security on the pilgrimage route.
A sharp drop in the violence that swept Iraq after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion helped allies of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki score extensive victories in Iraq's Shi'ite south in a provincial election last month.
But suicide and car bomb attacks remain common. Suicide bombs are often a hallmark of Sunni Islamist groups like al Qaeda.