Blasts in Iraq Damage a Shrine Holy to Shiites

A series of roadside bombs and explosions damaged a Shiite shrine east of the volatile city of Baqubah late Saturday, the second time this year that a site sacred to Iraq’s Shiite majority has been targeted.

The bombing at the Imam Abdullah Ali Hadi shrine, which caused no injuries, could have significant repercussions, particularly in the Baqubah area, a mixed Sunni-Shiite region where sectarian tensions are high.

The blasts at the shrine occurred about 11 p.m., according to the Diyala provincial police Joint Coordination Center and Interior Ministry Lt. Col. Falah Mohammedawi.

On Feb. 22, bombs heavily damaged the Golden Mosque in Samarra, which holds the tomb of Imam Abdullah’s father.

That attack triggered a wave of reprisal attacks against Sunnis, sharply escalating sectarian tension and pushing the country to the brink of civil war.

Also Saturday, gunmen killed the son of Iraq’s top judge, officials said.

Police found the bodies of Ahmed Midhat Mahmoud, 22, a lawyer, and two of his bodyguards in the mostly Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiya in Baghdad.

The killings came five months after the judge, Midhat Mahmoud, survived a Dec. 4 suicide bomb attack on his home.

The judge, a Shiite, heads the Supreme Judicial Council.