Attacks on Shiites in Iraq kill at least 60.

The New York Times - Insurgents unleashed a string of bombings against Iraq’s Shiites on Thursday, attacking pilgrims marching through the desert and neighborhoods in Baghdad, in an attempt to stir sectarian violence. The attacks come amid a political crisis that has brought the government to a halt less than three weeks after U.S. troops withdrew.

According to security officials, 68 people were killed in the attacks and more than 100 wounded, marking the second devastating and apparently coordinated attack in Iraq over the past month. The most lethal attack occurred near the southern city of Nasiriya where a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest amid a crowd of pilgrims as they waited to pass through a checkpoint, killing 44 and wounding dozens, including several Iraqi army officers, according to security officials.

The pilgrims were making a trip to the holy city of Karbala leading up to holiday of Arbaeen, which marks the end of the 40-day mourning period for the death of Imam Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

Photographs of the bombing scene posted on the website of Dhi Qar province, where the attack occurred, showed dozens of bloody bodies strewn across the ground. One photo was of a young boy with a charred shirt and pants laying face down covered in blood. Another photo was of just four fingers and what appeared to be the remnants of a hand.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but they appeared similar to ones conducted by al-Qaida in Iraq, the Sunni insurgent group that has tried to plunge the country back to the brink of civil war by pitting the country’s sectarian groups against each other.

Al-Qaida in Iraq killed more than 63 people Dec. 22 in a series of explosions across Baghdad, the deadliest day in the capital in more than a year. The attacks, however, did not reignite sectarian violence.

The violence began Thursday morning in Baghdad when explosives strapped to a motorcycle were detonated near a group of day laborers who had congregated by the side of the road in the slum of Sadr City, according to security officials.

Moments later, two improvised explosive devices were detonated near rescuers who were taking the wounded to a nearby hospital, the officials said. Nine people were killed in the explosions and 35 were wounded.

An hour after the Sadr City attack, two car bombs were detonated in bustling squares in the neighborhood of Kadhimiya, killing 15 people and wounding 31, according to security officials.