Single suicide bomber kills 27 Iraqi Shi’ites
The attack, which also wounded at least 60, underlines sectarian tensions that threaten to destabilise the country.
Police said the bomber drove into a busy bus station where pilgrims were taking buses back to Baghdad and the northern provinces after the Arba’een rite in the holy city of Kerbala.
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Hide AdThe latest violence followed nearly two weeks of protests against Shi’ite prime minister Nuri al-Maliki by the minority Sunni community in the western province of Anbar.
The protesters accuse Mr Maliki of being under the sway of non-Arab Shi’ite neighbour Iran and of marginalising Sunnis, who dominated Iraqi politics and public life until the 2003 US-led invasion.