A car bomb has killed 34 and wounded many more in a shopping area near the Imam Hussein shrine in the Iraqi city of Karbala.
Doctors at the local hospital said that many of the victims were women and children, while four of the wounded were Iranian pilgrims.
It is believed that the bomb went off at a bus station which is surrounded by many shops.
The blast occurred at 5.15am Irish time about 200 metres from the revered Imam Hussein shrine.
In Baghdad, at least eight pople were killed and another 11 were wounded in a car bomb attack in the south of the city.
British troops kill eight gunmen
British forces have killed eight gunmen laying landmines in the southern city of Basra.
The military said the eight had been operating in an area where four British soldiers and their civilian translator were killed in a huge roadside bomb blast that destroyed their Warrior armoured fighting vehicle earlier this month.
