Suicide bomber kills five on Iraqi holy day

A suicide bomber blew up a car south of Kirkuk today, killing two Iraqi Army soldiers and three bystanders.

The explosion near an army checkpoint in Tuz Khormato set up to guard a Shiite shrine where pilgrims had gathered to celebrate a major religious festival. Injured at least 16 people, including eight soldiers.

Today’s religious holiday marks the end of a 40 day mourning period for one of Shiites’ most important saints, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, Imam Hussein, who was killed in a seventh century battle.

Officials have been on the alert for attacks targeting Shiite Muslims during the festival, which draws people to shrines across Iraq. The biggest gathering is in Karbala, where hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims visited two holy shrines today and marched and beat their chests with their fists in a sign of mourning.

Gunmen fired on pilgrims in southern Iraq yesterday, killing one. Earlier in the week, two separate attacks on pilgrims left four dead, including two police officers guarding the faithful.

In Basra today, a roadside bomb injured six policemen on patrol and one bystander.

And the US military announced that an American soldier had died from injuries he sustained during a clash in northern Mosul.