Sobar News,- A bomb killed at least 53 Shiite pilgrims near the southern port city of Basra on Saturday, an Iraqi official said. This is the latest in a series of attacks during Shiite religious commemoration that killed dozens of people and threatens to further increase sectarian tensions just weeks after U.S. withdrawal.
The attack happened in the last 40 days Arbaeen, when hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims in Iraq and abroad visited the Iraqi city of Karbala and other holy places.
The blast occurred Saturday near the town of Zubair as Shiite pilgrims marching to the shrine of Imam Ali, on the outskirts of town, said Ayad al-Emarah, a spokesman for the governor of Basra province. This sanctuary is located in the enclave - the site Shia in Sunni-majority town in the largely Shiite provinces.
There are conflicting reports about the origin of the explosion.
Al-Emarah said the blast was caused by a suicide bomber or a bomb. However, an Iraqi military intelligence officer who is investigating the attack, saying it was a bomb, and noted that the road to Basra, Zubair to be used by the pilgrims has been closed to traffic.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
Basra hospital received 53 dead and 137 injured after the explosion, said Dr. Riad Abdul-Amir, head of the Basra Health Directorate. He said some of the wounded were in serious condition, and warned the death toll could rise further.
The blast came as Shiites mark the climax of Arbaeen, which marks the end of 40 days of mourning after the death anniversary of Imam Hussein, a Shia leader. The pilgrims who can not reach the holy city of Karbala, south of Baghdad, often traveling to other holy places like temples near Zubayr.
Majid Hussein, a government official, is one of the pilgrims on their way to the temple. He said that people began to flee in panic when he heard a loud explosion.
"I saw several dead bodies and wounded people, including children on the ground asking for help. There are also some baby carriage to the left instead of an explosion," he said.
The attack, which bore the hallmarks of Sunni insurgents, is the latest in a series of deadly attacks on Arbaeen this year. More than 145 people have been killed.
The biggest Arbaeen attacks - a wave of apparently coordinated attacks in Baghdad and outside the southern city of Nasiriyah - killing at least 78 people on January 5. It was the deadliest attack in Iraq in more than a year.
So far there has been little evidence of retaliatory attacks by Shiite militiamen and others who led the country to the brink of civil war in 2006.
However, a wave of attacks came at a very tense.
Last U.S. combat troops leave the country on December 18. Many Iraqis resent the presence of foreigners, but Americans are also guaranteed the status quo. Many Sunnis fear marginalization in a country now dominated by Shiites after the U.S. exit.
As U.S. troops withdraw, solving the political crisis that has crippled the Iraqi government. Facing the state of political blocs largely based on ethnicity and religion against one another.
Political debate seems far from over.
On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq called the Iraqi leader, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to resign or face a critical parliamentary elections. Sunni-backed al-Mutlaq Iraqiya party had boycotted Parliament and the Cabinet meeting since last month to protest what he considers al-Maliki's efforts to consolidate his power, especially at the state security forces.
The government al-Maliki, meanwhile, has demanded the arrest of the country's largest Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi's political Iraqiya, accusing him of running death squads targeting government officials. Al-Hashemi denied the allegations.
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