Female suicide bombers kill 57, wound nearly 300

FEMALE suicide bombers struck a Shi’ite pilgrimage in Baghdad and a Kurdish protest rally in northern Iraq yesterday, killing at least 57 people and wounding nearly 300, police said.

Three women detonated their explosive vests in the middle of pilgrims in Baghdad, moments after a roadside bomb attack, killing at least 32 people and wounding 102, Iraqi officials said.

In the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, 25 people were killed and 185 wounded when a blast tore through a crowd of Kurds protesting a draft provincial elections law, officials said.