12 Shia pilgrims killed in Iraq bomb attack

Up to 12 Shia pilgrims were killed and 25 others wounded in a suicide bomb attack Sunday in the northern part of Iraq's capital Baghdad, Xinhua reported citing an interior ministry source.

The attack occurred in the afternoon when a suicide bomber blew up his explosive vest among a crowd of Shia pilgrims in Seliekh district in the northern part of Baghdad, the source said.

The attack came as thousands of Shia pilgrims walked from various Baghdad districts in processions to commemorate the death of Imam Mohammed al-Jawad, the ninth of the 12 most revered Shia Imams, whose tomb is located in the centre of the old part of the holy Shia Kadhimiya district.

Earlier, the source had put the death toll at one.

Iraq is witnessing its worst eruption of violence in recent years, which raises fears that the country is sliding back to the full-blown civil conflict that peaked in 2006 and 2007, when monthly death toll sometimes exceeded 3,000.

The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq has said that almost 6,000 civilians were killed and over 14,000 others injured in Iraq from January to September this year.