AFTERMATH OF SECOND CAR BOMB THAT STRUCK SHIITE PILGRIMS

(16 Jun 2012) The latest in a series of car bombs targeting an annual Shiite pilgrimage in Iraq's capital Baghdad killed at least 26 people on Saturday. The religious procession has been hit three days in succession in some of the deadliest violence since US troops withdrew, police said. The blasts were the latest in a wave of terror attacks on the annual pilgrimage that sees hundreds of thousands visit eighth-century Shiite shrine. The first car bomb killed at least 14 people - mainly pilgrims and two policemen - police said. A second car exploded in Kadimiyah neighbourhood, about five kilometres (three miles) from the mosque that contains the shrine where al-Kadhim is said to be buried. 12 people were killed and 26 were wounded when a parked car exploded as the crowds passed by. The Kadimiyah attack hit inside a tight security cordon that authorities had created around the shrine's surrounding neighbourhood after 72 people were killed in multiple bombings on Wednesday. Al-Qaida has been unleashing attacks every few weeks, trying to weaken the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and spark another round of the sectarian violence that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war only a few years ago. While fighting between Sunni and Shiite Muslim communities has all but died out in recent years, al-Maliki's government has been plagued by sectarian tension since before the last American troops withdrew six months ago. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...