Baghdad, Iraq - AT least 118 Shiite pilgrims were killed in attacks across Iraq on Tuesday, sparking fears of reprisals that could frustrate efforts by Iraqi and US forces to quell sectarian violence.
The deadliest single attack was in Hilla, south of the capital, where two suicide bombers triggered explosives amid a packed crowd of worshippers walking to the holy city of Karbala, police Lieutenant Karim al-Hamzawi said.
Dr Mohammed Timini from Hilla Hospital's emergency room said 90 pilgrims were killed and at least 160 wounded, as queues of ambulances and private cars brought in scores of bloodied bodies.
"Among the wounded, there are 50 in a critical condition. Eighty per cent of the casualties are young men, but there are women and children among the dead,'' he told AFP at the hospital.
Tens of thousands of Shiites are making their way to Karbala, a shrine city around 100km south of Baghdad, for the Arbaeen ceremony on Friday, despite threats from Sunni militants.
Most of them are going on foot, leaving them vulnerable to attack.
Arbaeen marks 40 days after Ashura, the holiest day on the Shiite calendar, commemorating the killing in 680 of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, by armies of the Sunni caliph Yazid.
The Hilla bombings triggered fury amid the local Shiite population, and there was gunfire as militants accused government security forces of failing to protect the marchers from Sunni extremists.
Elsewhere in Iraq, separate attacks killed at least 28 more Shiites.
In Baghdad, eight pilgrims died when their minibus was raked with bullets by unknown gunmen in the Sunni district of Dura, while 15 more were killed and 47 wounded in three separate car bombings in other parts of the city.
Another five were gunned down in two attacks near Latifiyah, south of the capital.
At least 15 more were wounded.