Mitra-solusindo.com - At least 15 people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on Shia pilgrims in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, Iraqi police and security sources say.
The attack was aimed at pilgrims marking the festival of Arbain, one of the main holy days of the Shia calendar, reports say.
Security had been tight amid fears of insurgent attacks during the festival.
Scores of people have been killed in attacks on pilgrims in the last few weeks, reports say.
"A terrorist wearing a police uniform and carrying fake police ID managed to reach a police checkpoint and blew himself up among police and pilgrims," a police official at the scene of the bombing is quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
Victims are said to include several policemen.
The attack happened at a checkpoint used by pilgrims on their way to a major Shia mosque to the west of Basra, Reuters reports.
The violence comes only weeks after US troops completed their withdrawal from Iraq and amid a political crisis, which has seen tensions rise between the country's Shia majority and Sunni minority.
Last month, the Shia-dominated government called for Sunni Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi's arrest on terrorism charges.
Last week, at least 72 people were killed in bomb attacks targeting Shia Muslims in southern Iraq and the capital, Baghdad.
Officials said 45 pilgrims died in a suicide attack in Nasiriya and 27 people died in Shia areas of Baghdad.
[BBC News] COPYRIGHT © 2012
