Two Iranian pilgrims were killed and nine others were injured in a bomb blast Thursday morning in Iraq, the official IRNA news agency reported here.

An official from the Iraqi Health Department confirmed to IRNA that two Iranians died in the blast and nine others were wounded, according to the report.

The Iranian martyrs have still to be identified, and the wounded include seven women and two men, the Iraqi official was quoted as saying.

A suicide bomber struck a market near the Imam Ali mosque in Iraq's southern city of Najaf Thursday morning, killing at least 30 people and wounding 60.

The bomber, who concealed explosives in his belt, blew himself up at the entrance to the market, local police said.

This is the second time that Iranian pilgrims were killed during suicide blasts in Iraq in 40 days. On July 6, five Iranians were killed and 22 wounded in a car bomb explosion in the Iraqi holy city of Kufa, 140 kilometers south of Baghdad.

Iranian Foreign Ministry later condemned the blast in Kufa and called on the Iraqi government to carry out its responsibility to protect Iranian pilgrims in the country.

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

Source: Xinhua