A suicide bomber rammed his car into a bus carrying Iranian Shi'ite pilgrims in Iraq on Friday, killing at least nine people in an attack likely carried out by Sunni insurgents trying to ignite sectarian conflict.
Al Qaeda's local wing and other Sunni insurgents have unleashed a wave of attacks since the start of the year in an attempt to provoke the kind of Shi'ite against Sunni bloodshed that killed thousands in 2006-2007.
Police said during Friday's attack in Muqdadiya, 80 km northeast of Baghdad, the bomber targeted a group of Iranian pilgrims who often visit Iraq's Shi'ite shrines.
Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in attacks in Iraq since April, the highest toll in five years, in surging violence that is increasing fears the country may slide back into all-out inter-communal war.