KARBALA, Iraq, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Car bombs targeting Shiite pilgrims exploded near two of the holiest shrines for Shiite Muslims Monday, killing 11 people, officials said.
Officials said the attacks took place in the cities of Karbala and Najaf, The New York Times reported.
The attack in Karbala apparently targeted a bus of Iranian pilgrims at one of the city's main entrances, killing seven and wounding 34, police said. Karbala is home to the Shrine of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.
An earlier report indicated 10 people died in the Karbala explosion.
A second car bomb killed four people when it detonated in Najaf near a police checkpoint close to the Shrine of Imam Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed and a key figure in the split between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, police said.
In Baghdad, two other acts of violence were reported Monday.
A roadside bomb detonated outside of a restaurant, injuring four people, two of them police officers, and a mortar round struck the International Zone but didn't cause damage or causalities, officials said.
The International Zone is a fortified central Baghdad district where the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government offices are located.
