At least 12 people have been killed and 40 others wounded in a car bombing at a Shia shrine in Iraq.
The attack occurred in the town of Kufa, close to Najaf.
Two coaches carrying Iranian pilgrims were caught in the blast as they arrived at the Maithem al-Tamar shrine, which is located about 160km south of the capital Baghdad.
It is understood eight of the 12 dead were Iranian, including three women.
Since the fall in 2003 of Saddam Hussein, whose Sunni-dominated government fought Shia Iran in the 1980s, large numbers of Iranians have travelled to holy sites around Najaf, which is the main centre for the Shia branch of Islam.
The attack has been condemned by Sunni and Shia leaders.
The imam of the main mosque in Najaf, Sayyed Sadr al-Din al-Qubanji, has sent a letter of condolence to the Iranian spiritual leader Ali Khamenei and his people.
12 killed in separate attacks
In Baghdad, two car bombs have exploded in the Shia neighbourhood of Washash, killing three and wounding eight, while earlier a former judge was shot dead in the same area.
Just south of the capital, in Madain, two civilians were killed by mortar rounds during an early morning assault on the main police station in the town.
And in the northern city of Kirkuk, six people were shot dead in a number of incidents, including four members of the same family who were murdered southwest of the city while driving on the highway.
