Sunni-Shi’ite Jihad Update from AP, with thanks to Mackie:
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — A suicide car bomber attacked Iranian pilgrims Thursday as they got off tour buses at a Shiite Muslim shrine south of Baghdad, killing 12 people and wounding 39. The bomber struck about 7:15 a.m. in Kufa, a Shiite holy city 100 miles south of Baghdad, detonating a minivan loaded with explosives behind two buses unloading pilgrims, police said.
Eight of the dead and 22 of the injured were Iranians, said Dr. Munthir al-Athari of the provincial health department. Three of the dead Iranians were women, he said.
At least 16 other people were killed Thursday across Iraq, including 11 men whose bullet-riddled bodies were found in several locations across Baghdad, police said. Several showed signs of torture.
No group claimed responsibility for the Kufa blast, but suspicion fell on Sunni religious extremists and supporters of Saddam Hussein. Many Sunnis fear the rise of Iraq’s Shiite majority will lead to greater influence by Shiite-dominated Iran, with which Iraq fought a bloody war in 1980-88.