Thousands Of Shi'ite Muslims Gather In Karbala For Festival

This year's Karbala pilgrimage

A Shi'ite Muslim festival culminates in the Iraqi holy city of Karbala today, a day after two car bombs there killed as many as 26 pilgrims and wounded dozens more.

The explosions occurred despite the deployment of 120,000 police and soldiers during Arbaeen, a major Shi'ite ceremony that has been regularly targeted by Sunni Islamist Al-Qaeda and other militants since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein.

compiled from agency reports