Baghdad Blasts Mar Shi'ite Religious Holiday
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18 February 2005 -- At least 17 people have been killed and many more wounded in a series of bomb attacks targeting mainly Shi'ite worshippers in Baghdad.
In the deadliest attack, at least 15 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a mosque in the south of the city.
Shortly afterward, at least one suicide attacker struck at another mosque.
A third deadly blast went off outside a cafe in northwest Baghdad.
The explosions come as Iraqi Shi'ites are marking Ashura, an important date in their religious calendar.
Last year's Ashura events in Iraq were marred by suicide bombings that killed more than 170 people.
(AP/Reuters/AFP)
[For more on events in Iraq, see RFE/RL's dedicated Iraq Votes 2005 and The New Iraq webpages.]