A suicide bomber blew himself up in the southern Iraqi city of Karbala on Thursday, killing at least ten people and wounding up to 20 others, police said.

The attacker detonated his explosives near a Shiite shrine in the city, some 110 km southwest of Baghdad, the police said.

The police added that the suicide bomber blew himself up among crowd of Shiite Muslim visitors and street vendors in the narrow area between the holy Shiite shrines of Imam Abbas and Imam Hussein, causing the casualties.

On Wednesday, at least three people were wounded when a car bomb exploded in the Shiite holy city of Karbala. The target of the attack was unclear, according to the police.

(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2006)