#NEWS : Seven Iranian pilgrims, one Iraqi citizen wounded in Baghdad bomb attacks

BAGHDAD, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Seven Iranian Shiite pilgrims and an Iraqi citizen were wounded in two bomb attacks in Baghdad on Wednesday, an Interior Ministry source said.

A roadside bomb struck a bus carrying Iranian Shiite pilgrims on a highway that passes through Baghdad's southern district of Doura, wounding seven Iranians aboard, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The pilgrims were heading to the Shiite holy city of Karbala, some 110 km south of Baghdad to observe the 10-day annual Ashura mourning rite, the holiest of the Shiite religious calendar, which marks the death in 680 AD of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

Insurgents frequently attacked Iranian pilgrims who flock in large numbers to Iraq to visit holy Shiite shrines since the U.S.- led invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein's Sunni regime and set up Shiite-led government.

In a separate incident, a sticky bomb attached to a civilian car detonated in the Sab' al-Bour area in northwestern Baghdad, wounding the driver, the source said.

Violence and sporadic high-profile bomb attacks continue in the Iraqi cities despite the country's lawmakers approved an agreement that aimed at bringing Iraq's feuding political blocs into a new government led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

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