Is a Shia firestorm on the way ?

At least 60 people have been killed and 170 wounded in a suicide car bomb attack near a Shia shrine in the central Iraqi city of Karbala.

Saturday's blast occurred at a checkpoint not far from the shrine which is located in a busy area close to shops and restaurants in Karbala, 100km southwest of Baghdad.

"Many of the wounded are women and children," said Salim Kadhim, a spokesman for the Karbala health department.

Iraqi television images showed a man running down a smoke-filled street holding a dead baby above his head.

Smoke was rising from the child's body.

Elsewhere in Iraq, at least another 19 people were killed on Saturday.