Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The death toll from a morning suicide bomb attack on a crowded bus station in the Holy City of Kerbala, Southern Iraq, is at least 56 people. Local authorities warn that the numbers of victims “is destined to rise”. Hospital sources say that at least 70 people were injured, among them many women and small children.
The attack took place at 9.15 local time, in a bus station 200 meters from the Shiite Imam Hussein Mosque, where the nephew of the prophet Muhammad is buried, making it a chief pilgrimage site for Shiite Muslims. Eye witnesses refer that at least 15 ambulances are on the scene of the explosion, while police were force to shoot rounds into the air to disperse the crowds. Emergency teams are working to extract bodies from the rubble and transport the wounded to the hospital.
There were also attacks in Baghdad : a car bomb exploded on Jadriyah bridge over the Tigris in the south of the city, killing 8 people wounding a further 15. It was the second such attack targeting bridges in the Iraqi capital in under a week. April 12th a suicide attack collapsed the al-Sarafiyah bridge to the North of the city killing 11 people.