clari.world.mideast.iraq

*Associated Press/AP Online

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber struck Shiite pilgrims Sunday on
a highway south of Baghdad, killing at least 25 people and wounding
20, police said.
The blast occurred in Iskandariyah, police said. The
pilgrims were marching south toward Karbala to commemorate Arbaeen,
the 40th day following the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam
Hussein, one of two major Shiite figures who is buried in the holy
city.
It was the second attack against Shiite pilgrims.
Earlier Sunday, pilgrims were attacked by grenades and
small-arms fire in the predominantly Sunni Baghdad neighborhood of
Dora, leaving at least three dead and 36 wounded, police said.
Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of the capital, was one of the
main cities in an area dubbed the triangle of death for much of the
.-led war. But it has seen a recent decline in violence that the
. military attributes to a Sunni movement against al-Qaida in
Iraq as well as an influx of American troops.