Toll in Iraq bombing rises to 27

BAGHDAD - At least 27 people were killed and 111 injured in a series of explosions that hit the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, medics said Friday as they updated the death toll.

Three homemade bomb blasts rocked Najaf, home to some of Shiite Islam’s highest educational institutions and shrines, within minutes of each other Thursday.

Two of the blasts targeted a market located in a street leading to Imam Ali shrine, an important Shiite Muslim shrine.

The third was a car bomb nearby that detonated after a while when more people gathered on the scene, sources said.

Thursday, police sources said that at least 14 people were killed and dozens injured in the worst attacks in weeks, which shattered a brief period of relative calm.