Funerals held in Iraq for victims of bombing targeting Shi'ite pilgrims.

2013-10-06 4

Funeral services in Iraq for Shiite pilgrims killed in a suicide attack Saturday.

Dozens were killed when a suicide bomber detonated his vest at a checkpoint as pilgrims were on their way to visit a shrine in the Kadhimiya district.

One pilgrim says he will not be deterred.

SOUNDBITE: SHI'ITE PILGRIM, NAJIM, SAYING:

"The attackers think they can terrify the pilgrims, but they are mistaken. They will not. Pilgrims can not be terrified."

Earlier Saturday, another suicide bomber blew himself up killing 12 people inside a cafe in the mainly Shi'ite town of Balad -- just north of Baghdad. The cafe was targeted in an almost identical bombing 40 days ago.

Relations between Islam's two main denominations have come under acute strain from the conflict in Syria, which has drawn fighters from Iraq and the wider Middle East into a sectarian proxy war.