Scores dead in Iraq as series of deadly explosions target Shia Muslims

Bombings targeting Shia religious procession tents in Iraq killed at least 41 people and wounded more than a hundred Thursday, officials say.

Thursday's violence came during the peak of Ashoura commemoration rituals, which mark the death of a key figure in Shia Islam. It is a time when Sunni Muslim armed groups have typically stepped up attacks on Iraq's majority Shia community in recent years.

The deadliest of Thursday's attacks was in the town of Al-Saadiyah, 90 miles northeast of Baghdad, where a suicide bomber struck a group of Shias gathered for an Ashoura event. The explosion killed at least 32 people and wounded 75, two police officers said.

The Shias at the Saadiyah gathering were re-creating the seventh century battle of Karbala, a city in present-day Iraq. Ashoura commemorates the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussein in that battle.

Earlier on Thursday, two bombs exploded simultaneously near tents set up to offer food and drinks to Shia pilgrims passing through Hafriyah, a town about 32 miles south of the Iraqi capital, another police officer said.

Shias are considered apostates by hard-line Sunni insurgents, who have been regaining momentum in Iraq this year.

On Tuesday, triple bombings struck a group of Shias marking Ashoura in the eastern city of Baquba, a former Al-Qaeda stronghold 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. The attack killed eight people, including two children, and wounded 35.

Iraq has been hit by a wave of violence and insurgent attacks since April, when security forces cracked down on a Sunni protest camp in the north. The pace of the killings has soared to levels not seen since 2008.

More than 5,500 people have died since April, according to United Nations figures. Thursday's attacks bring the death toll across the country this month to 176, according to an Associated Press count.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press