Four buses carrying pilgrims to Karbala plunged into a river Friday in central Iraq, killing 18 people on board, hospital officials said. Dr. Dawoud al-Taie, head of nearby Mahmoudiya Hospital, said the minibus drivers apparently did not see that a bridge over the river had been destroyed two days earlier by insurgents. He said some passengers survived the accident, which occurred around dawn near Latifiyah, which is about 32 kilometers (20 miles) south of the capital. Al-Taie said the victims were Iraqi Shiites mainly from Baghdad who were heading for Friday prayers in the holy city of Karbala.
