Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) — A suicide car bomber targeted a Shiite funeral procession in the Iraqi capital Friday, killing 31 people and wounding 60 others, two police officials said.

The blast occurred as mourners passed by an outdoor market headed toward a hospital in Baghdad’s Zafarniya district to recover the bodies of three relatives shot the night before in the western part of the city, the officials said.

The police officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release details to the media.

The bombing is the latest in a series of attacks in the nation that have killed more than 200 people this year. Most of those killed were Shiite pilgrims marking Arbaeen, the end of a 40-day mourning period, officials said.

Authorities believe Col. Norman Dakhil may have been the target of the bomber.

Dahkil and his family were in the procession making their way to the hospital to collect bodies of three relatives, including his brother, when the bomb exploded, police said.

Gunmen opened fire on the three relatives the day before in Baghdad’s al-Yarmouk neighborhood.

The colonel escaped the suicide bombing unharmed, police officials said.

The violence has raised concerns about the ability of Iraqi security forces to ensure order, particularly after the United States withdrew troops at the end of 2011.

The attacks come as Iraq is mired in a political crisis that has raised fears of a return of sectarian violence that nearly tore the country apart at the height of the war.

Iraq’s Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish political leaders have squared off in recent weeks over an arrest warrant for Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, who is accused of organizing his security detail into a death squad that targeted government and military officials.

The arrest warrant was issued shortly after the vice president’s Sunni-backed Iraqiya party announced it would boycott Parliament, saying Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was cutting it out of the decision-making process.

Al-Hashimi has denied the charges, saying the accusations are politically motivated amid the rivalry between his political bloc and al-Maliki’s Shiite majority bloc.

The situation has been further inflamed with a political bloc loyal to radical, anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr calling for the dissolution of parliament and early elections.

Last week, Iraq’s Council of Ministers decided to ban members who are boycotting Cabinet meetings, a government spokesman said.

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/27/world/meast/iraq-bombing-attack/index.html?hpt=hp_t1