Series of attacks in Iraq kill at least 23

BAGHDAD -- Insurgents launched a wave of attacks Monday across Iraq, primarily targeting Shia communities and pilgrims, and killing at least 24 people, officials said.

The attacks appeared aimed at undermining security and confidence in the government by fomenting sectarian conflict. Overall violence has dropped since the nation neared a civil war several years ago, but attacks of a sectarian nature come almost daily, and government forces seem powerless to prevent them.

The deadliest blasts yesterday were in the town of Musayyib, about 40 miles south of the capital, where militants planted bombs around two houses, one belonging to a police officer. Two women, two children and three men were killed in the pre-dawn explosions, a police officer said.

In Baghdad's Shia neighborhood of Karrada, a parked car bomb went off next to a tent for Shia pilgrims making their way to the southern city of Karbala to mark the seventh century death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein, a police officer said. Five were killed and 25 wounded, he said.

The explosion rattled nearby buildings and sent a thick plume of black smoke billowing into the air. Ambulances and police rushed to the scene in the busy downtown shopping district, and several helicopters hovered above.

A roadside bomb injured six pilgrims in the capital's Baiyaa neighborhood later in the evening, according to police.

That came hours after a parked car bomb exploded on a busy street in the city of Hillah where local government offices are located, killing three people and wounding 21, another police officer said. He said some Shia pilgrims were among the casualties, but he didn't say how many. Hillah is about 60 miles south of Baghdad.

Two other Shia pilgrims were killed and 16 wounded in the town of Khalis, 50 miles north of Baghdad, when two bombs exploded simultaneously, another police officer said. In the town of Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, one pilgrim was killed and 11 wounded when two mortar rounds exploded nearby, another police officer said.

Six doctors confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information to reporters.