BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) – Three Shi’ite Muslim pilgrims were killed by a roadside bomb as they walked to a holy site near the northeastern Iraqi city of Khanaqin on Tuesday, police said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on the three women. But the Sunni Muslim militants of Islamic State are active in the area and have targeted Shi’ite pilgrims in the past.
Hundreds of thousands of Shi’ite Muslims gather every year in Iraq for the annual pilgrimage of Arbaeen, which marks the end of a 40-day mourning period for the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, Imam Hussein.
Islamic State has waged a campaign of kidnappings and killings since its self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and neighboring Syria collapsed in 2017.
Reporting by Adam Hadi; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Andrew Heavens.
