To which the U.N. notes, “No cause or grievance can justify such reprehensible acts.” More on this story. “Female suicide attackers kill 58 near Baghdad shrine,” by Salam Faraj for AFP, April 24:
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Two female suicide bombers struck a major Shiite shrine in Baghdad, killing at least 58 people amid a brutal spike of attacks nine weeks before US troops are to withdraw from Iraqi cities.
At least 140 people were killed within 24 hours as suicide attackers targeted areas packed with civilians in Baghdad and a restaurant filled with Iranian pilgrims northeast of the capital.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the “appalling” suicide bombings in Iraq on Thursday and Friday, saying their intention was to reignite violence in the country.
“The secretary general condemns the appalling suicide bombings since yesterday in Baghdad and Diyala, which reportedly killed at least 140 people including a large number of visiting Iranian pilgrims,” Ban’s office said in a statement Friday.
Ban, it added, “is particularly dismayed by reports that one of the bombers was a woman accompanied by a five-year-old child. No cause or grievance can justify such reprehensible acts.”…