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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Iraq blasts kill Ashura pilgrims | Iraq blasts kill Ashura pilgrims |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| More than 20 Iraqi Shia Muslims have been killed in separate bomb attacks at the climax of the Ashura festival. | More than 20 Iraqi Shia Muslims have been killed in separate bomb attacks at the climax of the Ashura festival. |
| Police said a bomb left in a rubbish bin in centre of Khanaqin, north-east of Baghdad, killed at least 11 people. | Police said a bomb left in a rubbish bin in centre of Khanaqin, north-east of Baghdad, killed at least 11 people. |
| People had been gathering at a local religious hall for ceremonies marking the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson in the 6th Century. | People had been gathering at a local religious hall for ceremonies marking the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson in the 6th Century. |
| An hour later, a suicide bomber struck in Baladruz, killing 12 worshippers. | |
| Police said the worshippers were gathered outside a Shia mosque in the Dur Mandali area of Baladruz, east of Baghdad, when the man wearing a bomb vest detonated himself. | |
| Ashura has witnessed serious sectarian violence since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. | Ashura has witnessed serious sectarian violence since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. |
| Both Khanaqin and Baladruz lie near the Iranian border north-east of Baghdad. The area is ethnically and religiously mixed with a population of Kurds, and Sunni and Shia Arabs. | |
| An estimated 2 million pilgrims have gathered in Karbala, south of Baghdad, for Iraq's main Ashura rituals, which are to mourn the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson in the 6th Century. | |
| There are no reports of violence there. | There are no reports of violence there. |