Bomb blast in Iraq’s Karbala kills five

By Ali Jawad

BAGHDAD

At least five people were killed and another 12 injured by a bomb that went off Tuesday in a residential district of Iraq’s southern city of Karbala, according to witnesses.

Witnesses told Anadolu Agency that security forces had cordoned off the blast site while ambulances were ferrying the injured to nearby hospitals.

Images of the scene posted on social-media websites by local activists showed columns of smoke rising from the area, located some 5 kilometers from the Shia Muslim shrines of Al-Hussein and Al-Abbas.

Nassif al-Khatabi, head of Karbala’s provincial council, told Anadolu Agency that the carnage had been the "result of a car-bomb attack".

He was unable to provide any additional information, however, regarding the number of dead and injured.

Ali Abo-Rezig contributed to this report from Ankara