Pakistanis among 7 pilgrims killed in Iraq blast

BAGHDAD: At least seven pilgrims from Iran and Pakistan were killed in Iraq on Saturday when a car bomb went off by a restaurant in a city north of the capital, police and hospital sources said.
The attack took place a few days into the holy month of Ashura
Police said a parked car blew up near a restaurant on the outskirts of Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, killing the pilgrims, who were travelling back to the capital from the holy city of Samarra.
A further 25 people were wounded in the blast, medics said.
Almost one year after the last U.S. troops left Iraq, al Qaeda's local wing has vowed to revive attacks in an attempt to reignite the kind of sectarian violence that drove the country to the edge of civil war four years ago.
Such attacks have often increased during Ashura, when Muslims commemorate the martyrdom of the Prophet's grandson Imam Hussein.