At least 24 dead in Baghdad bombing

BAGHDAD, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- At least 24 people were killed and 46 were wounded Saturday when a car bomb exploded in northwestern Baghdad's Kadhmiya shrine neighborhood, officials said.

Iraq's Interior Ministry told CNN the midday explosion occurred in the busy al-Zahra square, near a small bus station and outdoor market in a largely Shiite area of the city.

The New York Times reported many of the victims appeared to be Shiite pilgrims. The U.S. newspaper noted millions of Shiites were preparing to mark the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, a holiday that falls during Muharram, the holiest month of the Shiite religious calendar, which starts Monday.

The car bomb was detonated about 300 feet from Bab al-Dirwaza, one of the main gates to the shrine. Witnesses said the car was parked outside the fence of a nearby parking lot.

Jalal Hussein, 56, suffered a shoulder wound when the bomb went off just after he had parked his car after leaving his wife and daughter at the gate. He said there was a huge ball of fire that decimated several vehicles, including a bus. He said the bodies and limbs of victims were scattered about.

"It was an unexpected massacre of simple people going to visit the shrine," Hussein said.

Witnesses said rescuers tried to force open doors of vehicles to get at the dead and wounded. Numerous bodies, many of them burned, were put in wooden market pushcarts, the Times reported.