Carrying explosives in a box of candy, a suicide bomber detonated in a town in Iraq’s Anbar province Sunday, killing six people, including a sheikh whom the United States had recently freed, and wounded four others, an Interior Ministry official said.

The bomber was targeting Sheikh Aeifan al-Issawi and other members of the Anbar Awakening Council who were celebrating Sheikh Hadi’s release from U.S. custody, the official said.

Hadi had been in U.S. custody for about five days, al-Issawi said. He said al Qaeda in Iraq had planted a bomb near Hadi’s house and made it appear that the sheikh was dealing with insurgents.

The bomber handed the box of candies to Hadi, and it exploded, killing him and five others, including two guards, the Interior Ministry official said. Four others were wounded in the attack, which occurred in the Albu Aeifan area, which is about 9.3 miles (15 kilometers) west of Falluja.

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A messianic Shiite cult’s battles with police and attacks on religious holiday pilgrims have left 75 dead across Iraq in two days, officials say.

Iraqi security officers inspect debris Saturday after a gunbattle during a Shiite commemoration in Basra.

1 of 3 Millions of pilgrims were walking in the streets throughout the country Saturday in observance of Ashura, a four-day commemoration of an early Shiite martyr, a grandson of Mohammed.

Seven people were killed and 17 wounded Saturday afternoon when a Katyusha rocket slammed into an Ashura gathering in Tal Afar in northern Iraq, said the city’s mayor, Najim Abdullah.

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A suicide bomber has attacked a mosque north of Baghdad during a ceremony for a Shia holy festival, killing at least eight people, Iraqi police say.
The bomb exploded as worshippers left the mosque in Baquba, about 65km (40 miles) north of Baghdad.

The attack came the day after a woman blew herself up near a Shia mosque in the same Diyala province, killing 11.

The Ashura festival in Iraq has in recent years regularly been blighted by attacks blamed on Sunni radicals.

The latest attack occurred as devotees were about to begin a procession down the street, police Lieutenant-Colonel Najim al-Soumaidaie told the AFP news agency.

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CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida’s American spokesman urged fighters to meet President Bush with bombs when he visits the Middle East, according to a new video posted on the Internet Sunday.

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