In Samarra is the Al-Askari Mosque, a Shi’ite shrine, so this is likely to have been Sunni jihadists targeting Shi’ite pilgrims as part of the ongoing Sunni-Shi’ite jihad. But no one dares explore the motives and goals of the perpetrators of murderous attacks like this one; to do so would be “Islamophobic.”
“Car bomb goes off southern Tikrit,” by Hawar Berwani, IraqiNews.com, May 3, 2014 (thanks to Twostellas):
(IraqiNews.com)-Nine pilgrims, while heading to Samarra Holy Shrine, were killed or injured as suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest in Tikrit.Security source told Iraqi News “Terrorist wearing an explosive vest detonated himself amid a crowd for pilgrims in Balad district to the south of Tikrit. The incident led to four fatalities and five injuries.”