Baghdad bomb blast kills 4, mars Eid celebrations

BAGHDAD, Oct 14 (Reuters) A car bomb killed four people in Baghdad's northern Kadhimiya district today, police said, marring what had been a relatively violence-free Eid al-Fitr holiday for the Iraqi capital.

The district is home to the shrine of a revered Shi'ite imam and has often been targeted in the continuing sectarian violence between Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslims and Sunni Arabs.

Violence has dropped dramatically as Iraqis celebrate the holiday, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and is a national holiday in Iraq.

Sunni Islamist al Qaeda had vowed to step up attacks during Ramadan, and there was an upsurge in bombings and shootings in Iraq earlier in the week.

Reuters PD GC1800