A car bomb blast targeting Shiites in Baghdad ahead of the major Ashura religious commemorations killed at least 10 people on Sunday.

A car bomb blast targeting Shiites in Baghdad ahead of the major Ashura religious commemorations killed at least 10 people on Sunday, security and medical officials said.

The blast struck near a tent from which they were distributing tea and water in Al-Ilam area in southwest Baghdad, also wounding more than 20 people, the sources said.

Hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims will flock to the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala for Ashura, which marks the blessed martyrdom of Imam Hussein (as), grandson of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh).

Pilgrims have been targeted during Ashura before, but this year's commemorations, which peak on Tuesday, face even greater danger, with the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' terrorist group in control of large border areas of the country.