Market blasts and other bombings across Iraq killed at least 33 people and wounded nearly 100 today, spurring security officials to clamp down on traffic as Shiite Muslims brace for more tragedy during pilgrimages this week.

The death toll in a new spate of bombings on Shiite pilgrims in Iraq has risen to 56, officials said today.

Radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr today announced his followers were returning to the political fold in an apparent bid to regain legislative influence ahead of a planned security crackdown.

Up to 45 people were believed killed after a series of coordinated explosions struck major Shiite Muslim shrines in the Iraqi city of Karbala and in Baghdad today as thousands of pilgrims converged for the final day of a major religious festival.