Two buses with worshippers collide in Iraq, 17 killed

Two buses collided in southern Iraq on Friday, killing 17 people, including 14 Iranian pilgrims on their way to the Shiite shrine city of Najaf, police and doctors said.

"We received 17 bodies," said Dr Ali al-Shammari at Hilla hospital in Babil province, south of Baghdad. Of them, he said 14 were Iranian worshippers, including two women. Another 53 people were injured, 42 of them pilgrims, AFP reports.

The accident took place on the Hilla-Najaf road, sources added.

Najaf city lies around 160 km south of Baghdad.

Shiites pilgrims, mostly Iranians, come from outside Iraq to visit shrines and mosques and revive their sacred religious events, Sify informs.