BAGHDAD, March 3 Kyodo The death ...

BAGHDAD, March 3 Kyodo

The death toll from Tuesday's multiple bombing attacks in Baghdad and Karbala in central Iraq has climbed to 271 with 393 others injured, the Iraqi Governing Council said Wednesday.

A senior U military official in Iraq said that 15 folks including four Farsi speakers, have been detained in connection with the attacks in Karbala alone.

The blasts occurr forward the Shiite holy day of Ashura, which marks the martyrdom of the prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein. Shiites from around the world make an annual pilgrimage to Hussein's tomb in Karbala and other sites they consider religious in Iraq.

A three-day mourning period began Wednesday as Shiites and Sunnis attended a demonstration in the capital to indicate unity among the Iraqis as well as to pronounce guilty the attacks, CNN said.

CNN said Shiite leader Muqtada Al-Sadr l demonstrations in Baghdad to asseverate the attacks and express anger at the way Americans are handling security.

U and Iraqi authorities blamed the blasts onward Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born militant who is suspected of calling for attacks onward Shiites to promote the fight against the US-l coalition, CNN said, adding Brig. Gen Mark Kimmitt, a U Army spokesman, said Zarqawi has to be regarded as a chief suspect in the attacks.

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