BAGHDAD - A SUICIDE bomber infiltrated a crowd of Shi'ite pilgrims and triggered a vest packed with explosives, killing at least 35 people and wounding at least 79 at a Shi'ite shrine in Baghdad on Sunday, Iraqi officials said.

The bomber struck a checkpoint outside the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim shrine in Kadhimiya, a mainly Shi'ite area of Baghdad, as Shi'ites prepared for the Ashura holiday this week to mourn the death of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad.

Many of the casualties were pilgrims from Iran, security spokesman Major-General Qassim Moussawi said, underscoring the religious ties between the two majority Shi'ite countries.

'There were bodies everywhere, some of them missing legs and arms. This is a disaster,' said eyewitness Mr Said Qassim, who was distributing food to pilgrims nearby at the time of the blast.

'I can't understand how ... No one can get in here without going through seven checkpoints,' he said.

Maj Gen Moussawi initially said the bomber was female but later said it was a man. He said 35 people were killed and 79 wounded.

Despite insisting the bomber was male, Maj Gen Moussawi said the authorities would prevent women from approaching the shrine on the main pilgrimage days of Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

Other Iraqi security sources, who declined to be named, gave slightly higher casualty figures and said the bomber was female.

A Shi'ite cleric called on Iraqi security forces to be 'more awake' and for the planners of the bombing to be punished.

'The Iraqi people will not bow down to such crimes. We'll teach those people who did this unforgettable lessons,' Mr Mohammed Taqi al-Mudarisi said in a statement.

The commander of US forces General Ray Odierno and ambassador Ryan Crocker said in a joint statement: 'These horrific attacks demonstrate that despite the great progress we have made, Al-Qaeda in Iraq remains a lethal and dangerous threat.'

Security forces tested
Vice-President Adel Abdul Mahdi blamed Al-Qaeda-linked groups in a statement, calling them 'terrorist gangs'.

'Al-Qaeda have no place in Iraq. Their dark hatred against Iraqi people will only increase their solidarity and resolve to defeat terrorists, criminals and killers,' he said.

Hundreds of thousands of Shi'ites will visit the holy city of Kerbala, 80 km southwest of Baghdad this week to mourn the death of Hussein in a 7th century battle, a day of passionate observance in the Shi'ite calendar.

Sunni militants have frequently targeted Shi'ite religious pilgrimages, which have become massive events since the fall of Saddam Hussein, who repressed them.

In 2004, at the first Ashura pilgrimage after Saddam's fall, Sunni militants killed more than 160 pilgrims in coordinated strikes on Kadhimiya and Kerbala, an early portent of the sectarian fighting that would ravage Iraq in the next few years.

Kerbala police chief Ali al-Ghurairi said 22,000 security agents had been deployed throughout the city to prevent that carnage being repeated.

'We also deployed bomb sniffer dogs, snipers and an anti-riot unit. We are on 100 per cent alert,' he said.

But despite the violence, pilgrimages continue to attract hundreds of thousands of worshippers, including many from Iran. -- REUTERS