Three bombs went off in and around Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 14 people, including Shiite Muslim worshippers conducting an annual pilgrimage inside the capital, police and medical sources said.
The largest blast, from a parked car bomb in the Saydiya district of southern Baghdad, killed 11 and wounded 30, the sources said.
Pilgrims among the dead
At least a few of the casualties were pilgrims passing through the area on their way to the shrine of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim, a great-grandson of Prophet Mohammad.
Explosives planted on the ground in Tarmiya, 25 km (15 miles) north of Baghdad, killed two and wounded six, while a roadside bomb in Khalisa, a town 30 km (20 miles) south of the city, left one dead and two wounded.
To the IS, Shiites are apostates
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for any of the attacks, but Islamic State militants fighting Iraqi forces in the north and west regularly target security personnel and Shiite civilians whom they consider apostates.
IS’s al-Qaeda predecessor was blamed in the past for such attacks on Shiite pilgrims, including blasts in 2012 that left 70 people dead nationwide.
Security situation now better
Security has gradually improved in Baghdad, which was the target of daily bombings a decade ago, but there has been a string of blasts in recent days, including a suicide attack on Saturday that killed at least 19 people.
