About 25 people were killed and some 40 others wounded in a car bomb attack targeted crowds of Shiite pilgrims in the city of Karbala on Monday, the police said.

The attack took place around midday when a booby-trapped car detonated near processions of Shiite pilgrims at al-Da'oum area, just east of Karbala, some 110 km southwest of Baghdad, a source from the city police told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Many Iraqi security forces were among the killed and wounded, as the blast occurred when security forces approached to check the car bomb, the source said.

Earlier in the day, the source said that a twin car bombs detonated Monday morning at a parking lot in the al-Ibrahimiyah area in east Karbala, killing six people and wounding up to 30 others, the source said.

The latest attacks targeted Shiite pilgrims who converge in tens of thousands from outside Iraq and from different Iraqi provinces on the holy shrine of Imam Hussien in Karbala to commemorate the death of the Imam who was killed in the battle of Karbala in 680 A.D.

Violence and sporadic high-profile bomb attacks continue in the Iraqi cities despite the dramatic decrease of violence over the last three years.