Violence in Baghdad and southern Iraq killed eight Iraqis, including six Shiite Muslim pilgrims, and an American soldier on Friday, security officials said.

The six killed on the outskirts of the holy shrine city of Karbala, 100 kilometres (70 miles) south of the capital, were making their way there as part of commemorations for the birth of a revered Shiite Muslim figure.

"A car bomb killed three people and wounded 20 people inside a bus station north of the city of Karbala," said General Othman al-Ghanimi, a security official in charge of security in the region.

Nazeer al-Rubayee of Karbala's Al-Hussein Hospital confirmed the toll, saying that the wounded included women. The blast occurred at around 4:00 pm (1300 GMT).

At around 9:30 pm (1830 GMT) east of the city, another car bomb killed three worshippers and wounded more than 25, Karbala health department spokesman Jamal Mehdi said.

Thousands of pilgrims are headed to Karbala to mark Shahbaniyah, the birthday of a revered Shiite Muslim figure, which falls on either Saturday or Sunday, with the dates differing depending on interpretations of the lunar calendar.

In the Dora district of southern Baghdad, one person was killed and three wounded by an improvised bomb, an interior ministry official said.

Meanwhile, in another part of the same district, an explosion in the early hours of Friday killed one person in a house where police later found several improvised bombs and guns fitted with silencers.

Also on Friday, an American soldier was killed, the fourth such death this month, days after US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said US troops had resumed attacks against Iran-backed militias.

"A US service member was killed Friday while conducting operations in southern Iraq," said a brief statement by the American military, reporting yet another casualty in the Shiite-majority south that is home to anti-American militias Washington says are backed by Iran.

The statement gave no further details.

The latest death was the 18th casualty in six weeks, after US forces suffered their deadliest month in three years in June, losing 14 soldiers in attacks.

The last US casualty of this month was on Sunday, coinciding with Panetta's surprise arrival in Baghdad, where he expressed "tremendous concern" over Iran-supplied weapons he said were being used to attack troops.

Panetta also disclosed that American forces had resumed pursuing Iran-backed insurgents in Iraq, nearly a year after the US military in Iraq announced a formal end to combat operations.

The violence comes after June was the deadliest month so far this year for the number of Iraqis killed, and the bloodiest in three years for US forces, who lost 14 soldiers in attacks.

Last month, 271 Iraqis died in attacks -- 155 civilians, 77 policemen and 39 soldiers -- according to a government count.

Many of the victims were Iraqi civilian and military officials killed with silenced weapons.

earlier related report
Saddam half-brothers to be executed within a month
Baghdad (AFP) July 15, 2011 - Iraq will execute two of Saddam Hussein's half-brothers within a month along with three other former regime figures, an official said on Friday after the five were handed over by the US military.

The group, transferred to Iraqi custody on Thursday morning, were among 206 high-value detainees still being held by American forces ahead of a US military pullout due by the end of the year.

"We received the final 206 Iraqi prisoners being held by US forces, including five senior officials from the former regime," said justice ministry spokesman Haidar al-Saadi.

"They (the five officials) will be executed within one month.

"They include Watban Ibrahim Hassan and Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti," two half-brothers of the former dictator.

Also among the group handed over and slated to be executed were former defence minister Sultan Hashem Ahmed and ex-generals Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti and Aziz Saleh Numan.

The five were sentenced to death in different trials from 2007 to 2011.

"Justice Minister Hassan al-Shammari visited with the presidency council earlier this week and they agreed not to delay the ratification of their condemnation to death," Saadi said.

"We believe that the council will sign the documents within days and they will be executed within one month."

Under Iraqi law, all death sentences must be formally approved by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, or by either of his two vice presidents.

The 206 prisoners transferred were being held by US forces at a detention facility on Baghdad's outskirts, formerly known as Camp Cropper. Although the site was handed over to Iraq on July 15, 2010, American soldiers were charged with holding the group of high-value detainees.

Saadi said that of the larger group, the paperwork for 10 had not yet been completed.

Saddam, who was deposed in a 2003 US-led invasion, himself spent three years in Camp Cropper until his execution on December 2006.

Watban Ibrahim Hassan, a former interior minister, was sentenced to death in March 2009 for his involvement in the 1992 execution of 42 merchants accused of food price speculation.

He is the only senior Saddam-era official to have publicly apologised for wrongs committed by the dictator's Baath party.

Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti, a former chief of Saddam's intelligence service, was condemned to death in the same trial.

Former defence minister Ahmed and ex-general Tikriti were sentenced to death in June 2007 in connection with the repression of Iraq's Kurds in the 1987-88 Anfal campaign in which 180,000 people died.

Numan was given his death sentence last month over the violent suppression of an uprising of Shiite Muslims in south Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War.

So far, Saddam and four of his top officials have been executed since the 2003 invasion.

"As the Iraqi government gains the ability to hold prisoners requiring higher security standards, they are taking physical custody," said Colonel Barry Johnson, a US military spokesman.

"All detainees are and have been under their (Iraq's) legal custody. We only retained physical custody."

Around 47,000 US soldiers remain stationed in Iraq, with all set to withdraw by the end of the year under a bilateral security pact.

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