Series of suicide bombings mark Shia pilgrimage to Baghdad

Baghdad-

At 8 a.m. this morning I was awoken by one of the largest-sounding explosions I've heard. Followed by gunshots. I looked out the hotel window of where I was staying and saw the security detail looking up, probably at the rooftop guards, but no one appeared too concerned. They knew we weren't the ones being attacked.

The neighborhood was being rocked by suicide attacks targeting Shias while they marched toward the Kadhimya shrine where one of their important Imans is buried.

The BBC story reported twenty five people dead and about 70 wounded in another attack by women suicide bombers who conceal their bombs under dresses (and who must have been extremely hard to pick out in the crowd of pilgrims.)

The NYT story reported that the attack was conducted by three women using suicide vests who struck minutes apart.

It seemed odd to hear a huge blast and then go downstairs for coffee, breakfast, to start the day. Women and children probably laid dead within walking distance of our compounds's concrete blast walls.

Such is the life of some contractors and NGO workers in Baghdad- strangely disconnected.

I'm one of them. I'll be taking a break from embedded reporting to get a little stability before I head back to covering the 76th and 101st soldiers in a few months.

Life is very different here. I never thought I'd miss the Army, but I do. The sense of the everyday soldier's mission grows on you. The mission civilians are doing here is different, but may be just as important in trying to train and advise ministries of the Iraqi Government.

I have a backlog of some stories I'll be writing, and will get back out there before too long.

Thanks for reading.