In early July 2010, a series of bombing attacks in Baghdad, Iraq killed at least 70 people while injuring 400[1][2] during a Shia pilgrimage to Al-Kazimiyya Mosque, the mausoleum of Musa al-Kadhim.

[2] Major General Qassim Atta of the Baghdad police said special safety measures, including road closures, were employed to protect the pilgrims.

[3] Though no one claimed responsibility, a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor said that in the past "these very large Shia pilgrimages have been targeted by Sunni militants interested in increasing sectarian tension[s].

"[3] The attacks were seen as a "clear indication of the determination of anti-government fighters to exploit Iraq's political vacuum and destabilise the country as US troops prepare to leave.

A statement it released, emphasized that "such acts are in service of the US occupation and its devilish schemes as Iraq had turned into a scene of genocides since the US soldiers set foot in the country, targeting those believers, the holy shrines and the mosques."