53 Shia Pilgrims Killed in Iraq

Fifty-three people were killed in a suicide bombing at a security checkpoint in Iraq on Saturday. The victims were Shia Muslims on their way to a mosque west of Basra. A police official said, “A terrorist wearing a police uniform and carrying fake police ID managed to reach a police checkpoint and blew himself up among police and pilgrims.” The bombing occurred at the end of Arbain, a major religious observance in the Shia calendar, and it has renewed fears of sectarian violence in the country.