Iraq: wave of bomb attacks 'kill 84'

A wave of bombings across Iraq has killed 84 people and injured nearly 300 in the deadliest day in the country since US troops withdrew last year.

Ten locations in Baghdad were hit. Many of the dead were Shia pilgrims gathering for a religious festival. Two blasts near a restaurant in Hilla, south of Baghdad, are thought to have targeted police and security forces. There has been an upsurge in sectarian violence across Iraq in recent months as political tensions increase. The first car bomb struck a procession of pilgrims in the town of Taji, north of Baghdad, as they made their way to a shrine for the anniversary of the death of Shia imam Moussa al-Kadhim. There was then a series of four further blasts across the capital. One tore into a group of pilgrims as they rested at refreshment tents. A man who witnessed one of the attacks in Baghdad said a car bomb had targeted pilgrims and had also hit people who were working in the city. “People were slaughtered and killed right here. This wrecked car here belonged to a man who worked to earn his living, and another one belonged to a fuel seller. They could not find his body.”