At least 14 people were killed and some 30 others wounded on Saturday when a truck bomb detonated at a suburb near the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the Interior Ministry confirmed. 

The bomb was left on a road in the Nahrawan area used by Shiite pilgrims who are walking to the shrine of Imam Musa Kadhim in northern Baghdad for annual commemorations.

Kadhim, the seventh of 12 imams revered in Shiite Islam, died in 799 AD. The commemoration has in recent years turned into a huge event that brings the Iraqi capital to a standstill for days.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State jihadist group frequently targets members of Iraq's Shiite majority, whom it considers heretics.

Last year's pilgrimage was also marred by attacks against worshippers that killed at least 13 people.