Baghdad: A car bomb detonated on Thursday near the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, killing 10 people and wounding 39 others.
The blast took place in Tawdei Square on a road leading to a cemetery in the south-central Iraqi city -- a bastion of Shiite Islam.
Police are on alert and have imposed a citywide curfew.
The mosque is one of the most holy sites to Shiites. They believe it houses the tomb of the Prophet Mohammed's cousin and son-in-law.
A car bomb killed more than 120 people near the mosque in August 2003.
A year later, US forces battled followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in and around the mosque.
Najaf also is the home to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most powerful Shiite cleric in Iraq.
Top insurgent nabbed: Officials
An Iraqi considered the prime suspect in the 2005 kidnapping of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena and who also was sought for questioning in several assassination attempts has been captured, US-led multinational military forces said Thursday.
Mohammed Hila Hammad Ubaydi, also known as Abu Ayman, was captured March 7, but the announcement of his capture was delayed until DNA testing could verify his identity, the military said.
The Iraqi Central Investigating Court in Baghdad issued an arrest warrant for Ubaydi on October 17, accusing him of committing terrorist acts.
Ubaydi has strong ties to Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, considered the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the military said.
Authorities said Ubaydi had been the target of an intense manhunt by Iraqi and other intelligence agencies. He was picked up in southern Baghdad.
Ubaydi was the former aide to the chief of staff of intelligence in Saddam Hussein's regime and led the secret Islamic Army in northern Babil province, according to a military statement.
Sgrena was kidnapped in Baghdad in February 2005 before being freed a month later after Italian agent Nicola Calipari negotiated her release. He was escorting her to Baghdad International Airport when US troops shot him to death at a checkpoint. The journalist and another Italian agent were wounded.
The US said the shooting was an accident, and no disciplinary action was taken against the soldiers involved. Italy has disputed that conclusion.
Ubaydi also is the prime suspect in the kidnapping and killing of other hostages and is believed to have committed homemade bomb attacks on military forces and citizens since the fall of Hussein's government.
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