Shi’ite worshipers were attacked by some assailants in three Iraqi cities on Tuesday. In these bomb attacks as many as 36 people killed during the ceremonies marking Ashoura.
In a perceptible retribution, mortar shells attacked main Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad. Some five people were killed and more than 20 were injured in this retaliation
A suicide bomber moved in the crowd entering a Shi’ite mosque and blew himself up. In this blast 19 people were killed and 54 were injured. The blast occurred in Mandali, a Shi’ite majority city near the Iranian border.
The other two bomb explosions occurred at the place near Diyala province. The place is near to Baqouba, where fighting has raged for weeks between Sunni insurgents, Shi’ite militiamen and U.S.-Iraqi troops.
The attacks on the final day of the week-long annual Ashura mourning rite happened in the midst of heightened tensions between the country’s majority Shi’ites and once politically dominant minority Sunnis.
It has also reported that some gunmen also opened fire on Shi’ite pilgrims in a minibus in the capital. In this incident, they killed at least seven people and injured seven others.
Earlier, Iraqi security forces with the support of U.S. tanks, helicopters and jet fighters, had fought a furious daylong battle with the “Soldiers of Heaven” on Sunday in which one U.S. helicopter had crashed.
The U.S. military had said in a statement that they have captured more than 100 gunmen. However, the Iraq’s Defense Ministry said that some 263 militants were killed, 210 wounded and 392 captured in the fight in the region.
Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki said that
he hopes sectarian militias will be dissolved and the Sunni insurgency will be ended within six months from now.
