Baghdad, December 27: Separate incidents across Iraq have claimed the lives of seven people, amid ratcheted up security on the eve of the Shia occasion, Ashura.
A reported bomb attack on a mourning procession in Jadida, an eastern neighborhood of Baghdad, on Saturday killed two pilgrims and injured eight others, the AFP news agency reported.
Another eastern neighborhood, Fedhailia, saw three people killed and five wounded in a separate bombing raid.
Elsewhere east of the capital, gunmen fatally shot an army official while reports pointed to the death of a tribal leader in the central town of Abu Ghraib.
The incidents took place as enhanced security measures are in place on the eve of Ashura, which commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hossein (PBUH), a grandson of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).
Tens of thousands of police officers and soldiers have also been deployed in the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, the latter of the two hosts the shrine of Imam Hossein (PBUH) and is visited by thousands of pilgrims from around the world.
Similar incidents throughout Iraq claimed the lives of more than a dozen people yesterday.
——Agencies