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Baghdad (AFP) Dec 8, 2010 Seven Iranian pilgrims were wounded on Wednesday when a roadside bomb exploded near a bus carrying them to the holy Shiite shrine city of Karbala, security officials said. The attack came a day after Muslims celebrated the beginning of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, and as Shiites from around the world descend on Karbala for the commemoration of Ashura, which marks the slaying of the revered Imam Hussein by the armies of the Sunni caliph Yazid in 680. The attack, which struck the bus in southwest Baghdad while it was en route to Karbala, left seven pilgrims wounded, officials from the interior and defence ministries said, speaking on condition of anonymity. It followed two separate attacks in the capital on Saturday that also targeted Iranian pilgrims visiting Shiite holy sites in Iraq, and that killed six religious tourists. Every day, thousands of pilgrims, many of them from Iran and other countries with large Shiite Muslim populations, visit Karbala and Iraq's other major Shiite shrines in Samarra, Najaf and Baghdad. That number increases dramatically during the first 10 days of Muharram, known as Ashura, as millions of pilgrims travel to Karbala, the home of shrines to Imam Hussein and his half-brother Imam Abbas, culminating on the 10th day of the month on the lunar calendar, which this year falls on December 16. Shiites make up around 15 percent of Muslims worldwide. They represent the majority populations in Iraq, Iran and Bahrain and form significant communities in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
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