A car bomb exploded in northern Baghdad on Saturday, killing seven passers-by and wounded dozens of others in an apparent sectarian attack near the capital's most important shrine, the Associated Press reported. The noontime attack in Kazimiyah came even as parts of Baghdad were shut down to vehicular traffic in an effort to protect pilgrims leaving for an annual religious commemoration in the southern city of Karbala next week. Just after noon, a bomb hidden in a parked car exploded in busy Oruba Square about 500 meters (yards) from the shrine of Imam Musa Kadhim, another revered figure. A medic at the local hospital said seven people were killed in the explosion and 30 others were wounded.
