At least nine people were killed and 18 wounded in a suicide attack Thursday in the Iraqi city of Baquba, security sources said, according to dpa. A suicide bomber blew himself up, targeting a Shiite gathering in Hussaineya district in northern Baquba, 60 kilometres north of Baghdad, sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. On Friday, Shiites were to celebrate Ashura, a religious festival in which they pilgrimage to a shrine held to be the tomb of Imam Hussein, killed in the Battle of Karbala in 640. Last December, a suicide attacker detonated an explosive device in the same district killing elements of the Awakening Council, who are combatting al-Qaeda terrorist network in Iraq.
