Baghdad: Violence in Baghdad and north Iraq killed nine people on Friday as throngs of Shiite pilgrims converged on the Iraqi capital for annual commemoration rituals. The unrest came amid tight security measures in Baghdad, as Iraq grapples with a protracted surge in bloodshed that has left more than 3,700 people dead so far this year and fulled fears the country is slipping back into all-out conflict. Friday’s deadly violence struck in the capital and the restive northern province of Nineveh, leaving nine people dead and 22 others wounded, security and medical officials said. Mortar fire in north Baghdad killed three people, while two men were shot dead in the west of the capital. The mortar rounds slammed into the Zahra neighbourhood adjacent to Kadhimiyah, where tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims prepare to commemorate the death of a revered figure in Shiite Islam. For days worshippers from across […]