7:17pm UK, Monday February 01, 2010

Roddy Mansfield, Sky News Online

A female suicide bomber with explosives strapped to her waist blew herself up among a crowd of Shi’ite pilgrims, killing at least 54 people.

Witnesses described scenes as “chaotic” in the minutes after the bomber struck

The attack occurred near the Shi’ite neighbourhood of Shaab, as thousands of pilgrims were making their way to Karbala, 50 miles south-west of Baghdad.

A police official said the bomber struck while she was waiting with other women to be searched at a checkpoint.

He added that 117 people were believed to be wounded and that 18 women and 12 children were among the dead.

Unconfirmed reports suggest the woman was a Sunni Islamist extremist, who would have viewed Shi’ite Muslims as apostates or ‘non-believers’.

Tens of thousands of troops and police had been deployed to protect the streets and the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala, but the bomber managed to get through.

The victims, who had been travelling on foot from the central province of Diyala, had stopped at a food tent when the attack took place.

A wounded man lies in a car after being treated at Sadr hospital, Baghdad

Witnesses described a chaotic scene in the minutes following the blast.

Raheem Kadhom, 35, was standing 138m away when the bomber stuck. He described how a huge fireball erupted among the crowd.

“Pilgrims were on the ground, covered in blood and crying for help,” he said.

The blast was so powerful it knocked some victims out of their slippers and shoes, which were scattered across the ground, Mr Khadhom said.

Sky’s Kitty Logan, reporting from Baghdad, said the blast would raise fears of further attacks in the run-up to elections.

“We’ve seen a series of suicide bombings at three major hotels here and the interior ministries were also targeted,” she said.

“Today’s attack can only raise fears of sectarian violence in the run up to the elections in March.

“We don’t know who is behind this but if it’s a Sunni extremist group, we could see revenge attacks.”

The attack took place as pilgrims moved off from the southern outskirts of Baghdad

The pilgrims were making their way to a shrine in Kerbala for the religious rite of Arbain.

Tens of thousands of Shi’ites, including many from neighbouring Iran, make the journey on foot from hundreds of miles away, beating their heads and chests in mourning as they arrive into the city.

Arbain marks 40 days of mourning for Hussein, the Prophet Mohammad’s grandson, who died in battle at Karbala in the seventh century.