BAGHDAD, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- It was a bloody Sunday in Iraq with car bombings reported in the Shiite Muslim holy cities of Karbala and Najaf, killing at least 60 people.
In Najaf, a suicide bomber drove his car into a funeral procession killing at least 48 people just yards from the Imam Ali shrine, CNN reported. Hospitals in Najaf said they were overwhelmed by about 90 people who suffered injuries. Some of the wounded had to be taken to facilities outside the city.
Officials said the Karbala attack near the city's bus station killed at least 16 people and injured 37.
Also Sunday, three mortar grenades slammed into a well-known mosque in Baghdad, injuring four of its guards and damaging the structure.
The Sheikh al-Islam bin Taymiya Mosque in western Baghdad is a prominent Sunni mosque and houses the mufti's office of the Muslim Scholars Institute, Iraq's largest Sunni religious establishment. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
In other violence, Iraqi sources said three people were killed in central Baghdad. The sources told CNN one of the victims was an election worker en route to work, while the other two were his bodyguards.
