Car bomb kills seven in Iraq city

A car bomb aimed at Iranian pilgrims killed seven people in Iraq's holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala on Monday, an official said, shortly before a meeting that could break an eight-month deadlock over a new government.

Thirty-four people were wounded by the blast at one of the entrances to Kerbala, site of two of the holiest shrines in Shi'ite Islam, said Mohammed al-Moussawi, head of the Kerbala provincial council. Four of the dead were Iranians, he said.

"It was a car bomb. There were Iranian pilgrims in the area. They were targeted," said Moussawi.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranian religious tourists have visited Shi'ite holy sites in neighbouring Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.

Saddam crushed insurrections by Iraq's Shi'ite majority, banned Shi'ite religious festivals and fought an eight-year war with Shi'ite power Iran.

The pilgrims are often targeted by Sunni Islamist groups like al Qaeda in Iraq, which view Shi'ite Muslims as apostates.

Iraq's political factions are preparing to meet in the capital of the Kurdish region to try to forge a deal on a new government eight months after an inconclusive election that produced no outright winner.

Incumbent Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, is close to securing a second term but is still trying to win over leaders of a Sunni-backed cross-sectarian alliance.

Tension has risen during the eight-month impasse as Maliki and the head of the Sunni-backed bloc, former premier Iyad Allawi, jostle over power, while insurgents launch a stream of often devastating attacks.

U.S. troops meanwhile are scaling back their presence in Iraq ahead of a full withdrawal next year.

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