Bomber strikes Shiite pilgrims in Iraq, killing 26

BAGHDAD (AP) -- A suicide bomber blew himself up Saturday on a bus carrying Shiite pilgrims, officials said, killing 26 people on their way to a revered shrine north of Baghdad that has been a flash point in Iraqi sectarian strife.

It was the second attack in three days targeting pilgrims traveling to the al-Askari mosque in the former insurgent stronghold of Samarra for commemorations of the death of a ninth century religious figure who is buried there.

The shrine is still being rebuilt after its golden dome was destroyed in a Feb. 22, 2006, bombing that was blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq and sparked years of retaliatory bloodshed between Sunnis and Shiites. Officials said the mosque was not damaged in Saturday's attack.

A Samarra policeman said the bomber joined the busload of pilgrims in a parking lot about two miles (four kilometers) from the mosque and detonated his explosives-packed vest. The blast set fire to at least eight cars and buses parked in the lot, he said.

Samarra is 60 miles (95 kilometers) north of Baghdad.

Police and hospital officials in Samarra and the nearby city of Balad confirmed the death toll and said about 30 other people had been wounded.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

The destruction of the Shiite mosque in 2006 sent Iraq into a downward spiral of violence between Sunnis and Shiites that left whole neighborhoods around the country cleansed and divided by sect. The day after that attack, nearly 140 people were killed, and tens of thousands died over the next two years as Iraq teetered on the brink of civil war.

The shattered shrine remained vacant during most of the turmoil, but the Shiite-dominated government made it a priority to rebuild it and bring the pilgrims back as part of national reconciliation efforts.

Pilgrims are an easy target for Sunni insurgents who routinely plant bombs along the highways where large groups walk on the way to shrines.

On Thursday, a car bomb about 10 miles (16 kilometers) outside Samarra killed eight pilgrims and wounded more than 40 who were on their way to the city.