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Women suicide bombers kill 68 in Iraq bloodbath

AFP, CNN, Baghdad
Four female suicide bombers and a gunman killed at least 68 people and wounded almost 300 others during a string of attacks in central Baghdad and Kirkuk yesterday, officials said.
Scores of people were also wounded in the attacks, which follow a relative lull in the sectarian violence that has ravaged the country since February 2006, when insurgents blew up a Shia mosque in the central city of Samarra.
The triple attack in Baghdad killed at least 30 pilgrims as they headed to a holy shrine for a major religious ceremony on the Shia Muslim calendar that has been marred by bloodshed in the past, security officials said.
It was the second day attackers have targeted Shia pilgrims taking
part in an annual march to one of the Shias' holiest shrines.
Another 38 people were killed in a suicide bombing during a protest rally in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, and gunfire in a panicked stampede that followed, local officials said.
Among die dead in the Baghdad bombings were women and children, security and hospital officials told AFP, adding that about 70 other people were wounded.
The bombers struck in the Karrada district of central Baghdad as pilgrims were making their way on foot towards Kadhimiyah in the north of the Iraqi capital, site of a Shia festival onTuesday.
"At least 38 people were killed and more than 70 were wounded in three suicide attacks, probably by females suicide bombers," a police official said.
On Sunday, gunmen shot dead seven pilgrims in Madin, a town south of Baghdad, despite light security for Tfiesday's ceremony honouring revered imam Mussa Kadhim that is expected to attract up to one million worshippers.
Pilgrims from around the country are flocking to the Iraqi capital to mourn the revered imam who died 12 centuries ago, prompting authorities to step up security amid concerns over attacks.
Systematic violence - suicide bombings and sectarian killings --have dropped sharply in the capital since a peak in 2006, but Iraqi police are worried about a wave of attacks in the city of six million people.
Major General Kassam Atta, spokesman for city security, told reporters that his force had
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information regarding the possibil ity of attacks targeting pilgrim during this year's festival.
"We ask people to help in al ways with our security forces, ’ Art; said, adding that up to one millior people were expected.
Checks have been particular!) stringent amid what appears to be growing trend of using women in insurgent bombings, which have claimed hundreds of lives across the volatile country.
The attack in Kirkuk targeted a crowd of people who were protesting a controversial provincial election law, police said.
The suicide bomber detonated his explosives amid the crowd, causing a stampede, which prompted guards to open fire, officials said.
"The victims were people who ran away after the explosion and the other guards in many political parties they opened fire in air," said Najat Hassam, a senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
"More people then responded to the gunfire with more shooting The result of all this was 22 people killed and 120injured."
Kirkuk is often the scene of communal tensions among Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens, and the latest violence was sparked by protests over the controversial legislation for planned provincial elections.
The draft is currently being reviewed by the Iraqi parliament but many Kurdish and Shia ministers are opposed to the bill
Kurds in particular are worried that the law will fail to address issues relating to how the provincial council of Kirkuk should be constituted.
The question is important to them because it could affect ownership of the northern province's oil resources, claimed by both Arabs and Kurds.
Another three men and a woman were killed in a roadside bombing near Baquba, north of Baghdad, police said.