More than 70 people have been killed in a string of attacks on Shia pilgrims celebrating a religious festival in Baghdad and across Iraq.
Today was one of the bloodiest days in Iraq since the last US troops left the country in December.
The attacks revived fears that Iraq risks sliding back into sectarian bloodshed. The government's Sunni, Shia and ethnic Kurdish parties are already locked in a crisis that threatens to shatter their delicate power-sharing agreement.
In total, more than 21 bombs exploded today in Baghdad and the southern Iraqi cities of Kerbala, Balad, Haswa, which are predominantly Shia areas.
At least 30 people were killed when four blasts hit pilgrims across Baghdad as they marched through the city to mark the anniversary of the death of Shia imam Moussa al-Kadhim, a great-grandson of Prophet Mohammad.
One car bomb exploded outside a Baghdad Shia mosque, while another blast tore into groups of pilgrims as they rested at refreshment tents along the route to a shrine in Kadhimiya district.
In a separate attack in the southern city of Hilla, police said two simultaneous car bombs, including one detonated by a suicide bomber, exploded outside restaurants used by security forces, killing 22 people.
The bombings appear to be the work of Sunni insurgents who often hit Shia targets to try to reignite the intercommunal violence that killed tens of thousands of people in 2006-2007.
