Dateline Iraq: At Least 50 Dead on Ashura

On the Shiites' holiest day:

At least 56 people were killed in vicious tit-for-tat sectarian attacks in Iraq as hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims observed an annual mourning ritual [...]

Twenty-three Shiite pilgrims died when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque as they were marking Ashura in Dur Mandali, near the town of Balad Ruz in Diyala, security sources said. A further 57 were wounded.

In another attack, 12 Kurdish Shiites, known as Faylis, were killed when a bomb stashed in a roadside bin exploded as they headed to a local husseiniyah (religious hall) in Khanaqin, also in Diyala near the Iranian border [...]

In a third attack, a sniper killed three Shiite volunteers as they served traditional meals to pilgrims near the Diyala provincial capital Baquba [...]

Later Tuesday, several mortar rounds slammed into the Baghdad Sunni district of Adhamiyah, killing at least 10 people, police said [...]

At least eight people died in other attacks Tuesday, while police found eight bodies in Baghdad.

In Nasiriya:

A U.S. soldier was killed Monday when his Humvee rolled over northwest of Nasirya, a U.S. military statement said.

In Anbar province:

A U.S. Marine died Monday from "wounds sustained due to enemy action" during operations in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, a U.S. military statement said.

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