A suicide bomber blew up his car near two buses carrying Iranian pilgrims in the Iraqi city of Kufa on Thursday, killing 13 people and wounding up to 41 others, police said.

The suicide bomber blew up his explosive-packed minibus at about 7:15 a.m. (0315 GMT) near the holy Shiite shrine of Maitham al-Tamar, some 500 meters away from the Kufa mosque, when the two buses arrived at the scene.

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, a large number of pilgrims from neighboring Shiite Iran have traveled to Iraq's holy cities.

Source: Xinhua