27 dead, 109 wounded in Baghdad attacks

At least 27 people were killed and 109 wounded in insurgent attacks in the Iraqi capital baghdad on Saturday as Shiites marked their holiest day of Ashura, a government official said. Another six died in attacks outside the city, raising to nearly 70, the number of people killed in the two-day mourning commemoration.

Nineteen victims were blown up in a suicide attack by a bicycle-borne bomber on a bus in Baghdad’s Aden Square, leaving 40 others wounded, the official said. The US military said an American soldier was killed in the blast. Giving the toll, the source added: ‘‘Nineteen were killed and 40 wounded in a suicide attack on Aden Square. The other victims were: Four killed in an attack in Baya and four others killed in an attack on Al-Nida mosque.’’

The most lethal blast was carried out by the bicycle bomber who struck the bus carrying pilgrims from the Imam Mussa Kazem mosque in northern Baghdad. Another suicide bomber, also on a bicycle, rode into a Sunni funeral tent in the mainly Shiite Baya district in the capital, killing four and wounding 37, medical sources said. —PTI