Iraqi police and hospital officials on Monday said a car bomb exploded not far from one of Shiite Islam's holiest sites in the city of Najaf, killing seven people. Officials said the explosion took place some 500 yards from the shrine of Imam Ali. Two Iranian pilgrims were among those killed.
This explosion came hours after a car blast in Karbala, another holy Shiite city south of Baghdad, also killed 10 people, including six Iranian pilgrims. According to AFP, a suicide bomber drew his booby-trapped car up next to a bus carrying the pilgrims and then detonated his payload. The blast injured another 38 people, most of them Iranians, hospital officials said.
