BAGHDAD, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — A female suicide bomber on Thursday killed at least 18 Shiite pilgrims on their way to the holy city of Karbala, an Iraqi police source said.

    The attack, near the town of Iskandariya, some 60 km south of Baghdad, also wounded 75 people, the source said on condition of anonymity.

    Thousands of pilgrims were traveling to the holy city of Karbala, about 110 km south of the capital, to commemorate the birth in the 9th century of the Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi, last of 12most revered Shiites Imams.

    The suicide blast was the most critical after three female attackers killed more than 24 and injured over 62 on July 28 during a Shiite pilgrimage gathering in Baghdad.

    Violence has dramatically dropped in Iraq, the U.S. military said, hitting a four-year low.

    But sporadic suicide or car bombing attacks are still haunting the Iraqis and creating remarkable casualties.

    Meanwhile, suicide explosions staged by women have increased as they are less subject to check and suspicion.

    UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — Two more battalions of national troops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have completed military training provided by the UN peacekeeping force, the UN said in a press release Thursday.

    About 1,800 soldiers of the national armed forces, known as FARDC, received three-month military training from members of the Pakistani contingent with the UN mission in the DRC (MONUC).

    They received training not only on military tactics, weapon handling, logistics and professional ethics but also in human rights, child protection, the Geneva conventions and MONUC’s mandate.

    "This training contributes to the progressive improvement of the professional capacities of the FARDC, with greater cohesion in its units, a marked republican ethos, as well as the example given by its officers," Alan Doss, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the DRC, said at a ceremony marking the completion of the training program.

    "The implication of MONUC in the training of the FARDC constitutes a major advance of the United Nations in the reform of the DRC security sector," he added.

    MONUC has so far trained 12 FARDC integrated battalions, and it continues to support the efforts of the Congolese government in the creation of a professional army, with the goal of training 28 FARDC integrated battalions by September 2009.

    AMMAN, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) — The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) plans to fly some 430 tons of aid materials to victims in conflicts between Georgia and Russia from its regional logistics base Jordan, local daily Jordan Times reported Friday.

    A flight has left Amman to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, carrying 34 tons of aid materials, including blankets, tarps, buckets and hygienic items, according to the ICRC delegation in Amman.

    It was the first of five charted cargo flights to send aid materials to people there, and future shipments including rice and food parcels will be distributed to 5,000 families, reaching some 25,000 people affected by the conflict, said ICRC.

    "Tens of thousands are in need in areas of conflict, and it is imperative we gain rapid access to South Ossetia to bring urgent help to those in need," an official with the ICRC delegation in Amman said.

    The ICRC has been regularly present in Jordan since 1967, helping hundreds of thousands in need across the region stretching as far as Yemen.