A suicide bomber killed 49 people and wounded 68 in the southern city of Kerbala on Thursday in the worst single attack in Iraq for over a month, and one with worrying sectarian undertones. Reuters quoted Police as saying that the bomber detonated his explosive belt on a crowded street near one of the city's main places of worship, the Imam Hussein shrine. It was the second bomb attack in Kerbala in as many days after more than a year of relative calm. It followed a day of carnage across the country on Wednesday, when at least 58 people died in multiple killings and bombings. Television pictures from Kerbala showed pools of blood in the street, which was littered with debris.
