Eds: updates toll, adds detail
At least 42 people were killed, 100 injured Friday in two attacks targeting Shiites in the southern Iraqi city of Karbala, according to security sources and eyewitnesses, DPA reported.
In the Qantara al-Salam neighbourhood of eastern Karbala, some 26 people were killed and 70 injured in a car bomb blast.
Sources added that three rocket shells fell on pilgrims the Bab Touireg area of central Karbala, leaving 16 killed and 30 injured.
Pilgrims are visiting the shrine of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, to celebrate the 40th day after Ashura, the holy day that marks Hussein's death in the Battle of Karbala in the year 680.
Friday's attacks came on the last and most important day of the festival. More than 30,000 military and police officers have been deployed on the roads leading to Karbala to try to beef up security.
Security authorities cooperated with US army air support to protect visitors in the holy Shiite city, which lies some 110 kilometres southwest of Baghdad.
Official statistics indicated that more than 8 million visitors have arrived in the city to attend the annual ritual, according to security.
