Two bomb explosions struck crowds of Shiite pilgrims in the holy city of Karbala on Monday, killing and wounding dozens of people, the police said.
The two bombs went off in the morning in a quick succession in the al-Ibrahimiyah area in eastern Karbala, some 110 km southwest of Baghdad, a source from the city police told Xinhua on the condition of anonymity.
The blasts resulted in the killing and wounding of dozens of pilgrims, but there is no immediate report about casualties, the source said.
The latest attack came as part of a series of bomb attacks as tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims are converging from outside Iraq and from different Iraqi provinces to the holy shrine of Imam Hussien in Karbala.
Violence and sporadic high-profile bomb attacks continue in Iraqi cities despite the dramatic decrease of violence over the last three years.