At least two roadside bombs exploded in a southern Iraqi city today as the campaign for a March 7th general election began, killing four people and wounding 25 others, health officials said.
Overall violence in Iraq has fallen sharply over the past two years as the sectarian warfare triggered by the 2003 US invasion faded. But US and Iraqi officials have warned that attacks were likely to pick up again before the vote.
A medical source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that four people had been killed with another 25 wounded.
Radhwan al-Kindi, head of the health department in Najaf, said the attacks occurred in Kufa, home to one of the most important mosques in Shi'ite Islam, and targeted Shi'ite pilgrims. Kindi put the death toll at three children with 30 mostly women and children wounded.
Police and Interior Ministry sources said one bomb may have involved a female suicide bomber.
The death toll was initial and could rise. It was not immediately clear how many bombs were involved.
The bombings coincided with the launch of campaigning for next month's parliamentary election.
Tensions between once dominant Sunnis and majority Shi'ites remain high, and have been stoked by efforts to ban scores of candidates accused of links to the former Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party.
Many Shi'ite pilgrims are currently visiting Najaf, which lies next to Kufa, 160km south of Baghdad, for religious rites.
Three bombs in Najaf killed at least two people in mid-January, shattering a relatively long period of calm in one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest centres.
Reuters