Iraq blasts kill Ashura pilgrims

More than 20 Iraqi Shia Muslims have been killed in separate bomb attacks at the climax of the Ashura festival.

Police said a bomb left in a rubbish bin in centre of Khanaqin, north-east of Baghdad, killed at least 11 people.

People had been gathering at a local religious hall for ceremonies marking the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson in the 6th Century.

An hour later, a suicide bomber struck in Mandali, killing 12 worshippers.

Police said worshippers were gathered outside a Shia mosque when the man wearing a bomb vest detonated the explosives.

Ashura has witnessed serious sectarian violence since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Both Khanaqin and Mandali lie near the Iranian border north-east of Baghdad. The area is ethnically and religiously mixed with a population of Kurds, and Sunni and Shia Arabs.

An estimated 2 million pilgrims have gathered in Karbala, south of Baghdad, for Iraq's main Ashura rituals.

There are no reports of violence there.