A car bomb targeting Shiite pilgrims killed at least 23 people near Baghdad on Saturday, as hundreds protested in the capital for reforms and parliament made another attempt to reshuffle the cabinet.
Iraq has been hit by weeks of political turmoil surrounding Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s efforts to change the government.
Both Washington and the United Nations have warned the crisis could distract from the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group, which carries out frequent bombings against civilians.
Hundreds of supporters of Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stormed Baghdad’s Green Zone and some entered the parliament building after lawmakers failed to convene for a vote on overhauling the government.
The protesters, who had gathered outside the heavily fortified district housing government buildings and foreign embassies, crossed a bridge over the Tigris River chanting, “The cowards ran away!” in apparent reference to lawmakers leaving parliament, one of the witnesses said.
A guard at a checkpoint said the protesters had not been searched before entering. TV footage showed them waving Iraqi flags and chanting “Peaceful, peaceful!”.
Some were standing on top of concrete blast walls that form the outer barrier to the Green Zone.
The car bomb, which also wounded at least 38 people, struck a road in the Nahrawan area used by Shiite pilgrims who are walking to the shrine of Imam Musa Kadhim in northern Baghdad for annual commemorations, officials said.
IS claimed the attack and said it was carried out by a suicide bomber who detonated a vehicle laden with three tonnes of explosives.
IS considers Iraq’s majority Shiites to be heretics.
Kadhim, the seventh of 12 imams revered in Shiite Islam, died in 799 AD. The pilgrimage has in recent years turned into a huge event that brings the Iraqi capital to a standstill for days.
IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led military assistance have since regained signficant ground.
The jihadists still control a large part of western Iraq, and are able to carry out frequent attacks against both civilians and security forces in government-held areas.
Last year’s pilgrimage was also marred by attacks against worshippers that killed at least 13 people.
And four more were burned or shot to death when mobs torched houses and a Sunni religious endowment building after rumours of a suicide bomber sparked panic among a crowd of pilgrims.
The logic and aim behind Iraq attack and occupation was to throughly divide the Muslim sects and the US and allied forces have been succeessful. They are happy that the hate has flared in the neighbouring Muslim countries. Divide and rule policy of the British has been successful. They have been doing it for the last one century, not only in the Gulf countries but all over the world where the ruled.
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