* Suicide bomb kills at least 19 people, wounds 75 * Iraq tightens security at start of Shi'ite pilgrimage By Peter Graff BAGHDAD, Aug 14 (Reuters) - A female suicide bomber killed 19 people, mostly women, and wounded 75 on Thursday when she detonated an explosive vest in a crowd of pilgrims being escorted by police to a shrine south of Baghdad, police said. The bomber struck around dusk near the town of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of the capital, an area where Shi'ite pilgrims have to walk through Sunni Arab towns and villages to reach the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala. At least one policeman was killed and three were wounded in the attack in a volatile, religiously mixed area once known to U.S. troops as the "triangle of death". More than half of those killed were women, police said. Thousands of pilgrims have begun travelling on foot towards Kerbala to commemorate the birth of the 12th Imam al-Mehdi, a Messiah-like figure revered by Shi'ite Muslims, who believe he disappeared centuries ago but never died. Several pilgrimages, often attended by hundreds of thousands of worshippers, have become an annual ritual show of strength for Iraq's Shi'ite majority since the fall of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Arab who restricted some Shi'ite religious practices. The events remain high-profile targets for sectarian attacks despite a dramatic improvement in Iraq's overall security situation over the past year. In another incident targeting pilgrims on Thursday, a roadside bomb killed one pilgrim and wounded seven as they walked through central Baghdad's Karrada neighbourhood. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack. U.S. and Iraqi authorities say that al Qaeda Sunni Arab militants have increasingly relied on women to carry out suicide attacks as they can evade security searches. Three female suicide bombers killed nearly 30 people and wounded nearly 100 last month during a pilgrimage in Baghdad. Major-General Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman for Iraqi forces in Baghdad, said authorities would temporarily ban people from carrying weapons or chanting sectarian slogans during the coming days to prevent violence. Accepting food or drink from strangers, traditional during pilgrimages, would be discouraged. Pilgrims would be required to halt their travels at night and to stick to roads patrolled by security forces, he said. (Additional reporting by Aseel Kami; writing by Peter Graff and Missy Ryan; editing by Tim Pearce)
Women from South Ossetia sit in a tent in a refugee camp in the town of Alagir August 14, 2008. Georgia's parliament voted on Thursday to leave the Commonwealth of Independent ...
