A suicide bomber killed at least ten Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims on Thursday, Dec 19, in a mainly Sunni neighborhood of southern Baghdad, police sources said.

A further 23 people were wounded in the explosion, Reuters reported.

Attacks in Iraq in November killed nearly 950 people, the majority of them civilians, in a recent surge in violence. According to figures compiled by the Iraqi Ministries of Health, Interior and Defense, 948 people were killed, among them 852 civilians, 53 policemen and 43 soldiers. The frequency of attacks has raised fears that the country is witnessing a return to the deadly sectarian violence of 2006 to 2008.