At least 20 people were killed and dozens more were wounded when snipers opened fire from rooftops and a cemetery in a series of attacks on a Shiite religious procession in Baghdad.

Snipers firing from rooftops and a cemetery today killed at least 16 people and injured 230 in a series of attacks on a religious procession in Baghdad, officials said.

Sniper attacks on a Shiite religious procession left 10 pilgrims dead and 43 injured in several places in Baghdad today.

An uneasy silence cloaked the streets of Baghdad today at the start of a two-day vehicle ban aimed at preventing attacks during a major Shiite religious gathering. Seven pilgrims hoping to join the rally were shot dead in a Sunni neighbourhood.

US forces seized hundreds of mortar rounds and rockets in a Sunni neighbourhood of Baghdad today, and detained two suspected terrorists.