17 dead, 53 hurt in Iraq suicide bombing

BAGHDAD, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- At least 17 people died and 53 were injured Sunday when a female suicide bomber detonated an explosive during a Shiite pilgrimage in Baghdad, officials said.

Many of those slain and hurt were women who had come to Baghdad's Kadhimiya neighborhood, not far from the Imam Moussa Kadhim holy shrine, to mark the Shia holy period of Ashura, CNN reported.

Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, military spokesman for the Iraq interagency domestic security body Fardh al-Qanoon, told CNN the bomber was a woman wearing an abaya, or a robe-like dress. It appears she was specifically targeting women, Atta and an unnamed interior ministry source said.

Observers said the attack could be the single deadliest suicide bombing in Iraq since a bomber killed 47 people in Kirkuk on Dec. 11.