Female Suicide Bomber Kills 54 in Baghdad Attack

A female suicide bomber set off an explosives-lined vest in a crowd of pilgrims in northeast Baghdad on Monday, killing 54 people and wounding 109 and fueling fears of more violence before next month’s key elections, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

Los Angeles Times:

The bomber hid the explosives under her voluminous black abaya, or cloak, and detonated them among pilgrims gathered at a hospitality tent in the neighborhood of Bab al Shams. The dead included five women employed to search female pilgrims for bombs, police said.

... The pilgrims were among hundreds of thousands setting off to walk to the shrine city of Karbala to mark Arbaeen, the end of a 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussein, a 7th century figure revered by Shiites. Traditionally, residents set up hospitality tents to serve refreshments to the pilgrims.

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AP / Karim Kadim

The coffin of a suicide bombing victim is transported on the roof of a car from a hospital in Baghdad on Monday.