Six people have been killed after a car bomb attack in Baghdad.
The bomb, in a parked car, struck pilgrims walking in the city early today.
Elsewhere, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims poured into Iraq's holy city of Kerbala, defying bomb attacks across the country to attend a rite that has become an annual show of strength for the Shia majority.
Many of the pilgrims have walked for days in soaring temperatures to mark the birth of Imam Mohammed al-Mehdi, a Messiah-like figure Shias believe vanished centuries ago and will return to bring peace on earth.
Late on Friday, a van packed with explosives was detonated at a bus station where pilgrims were assembling in Balad, a Shia town in a mainly Sunni area north of Baghdad, killing nine people and wounding 40, according to police.
On Thursday, a female suicide bomber killed 19 pilgrims and wounded 75 when she blew herself up amid a group making the journey on foot near Iskandariya south of Baghdad.
Authorities said they had managed to avoid bloodshed in Kerbala itself after last year's pilgrimage was marked by gun battles between Shia factions and Iraqi security forces.
