KERBALA, Dec 15: A bomb exploded near the offices of a Shia leader in Kerbala on Wednesday, killing eight people and wounding 32.

One of the wounded was Sheikh Abdul Mehdi al Karbalai, a Leader regarded as close to Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shia leader.

Hospital sources said he had been hit in the legs and was receiving treatment. Wednesday's attack came on the day campaigning began for Iraq's first post-Saddam elections.

One of the groups contesting the poll is a list of mainly Shia candidates backed by Ayatollah Sistani, but it was not immediately clear if there was any political motive for the bombing.

At least four of those killed worked as guards in Sheikh Karbalai's office, hospital sources said. The wounded were mostly office staff and passers-by. The office is in the centre of Kerbala, close to the shrine of Hazrat Imam Hussein.

Sites near Kerbala's shrines were previously attacked in March this year when suicide bombers blew themselves up during Muharram, killing more than 70 pilgrims.

That attack coincided with a blast at a shrine in Baghdad, which killed more than 50 people. The coordinated blasts were blamed on Jordanian militant Abu Musab al Zarqawi and seen as an attempt to sow sectarian discord.

Ayatollah Sistani, an elderly Iranian-born religious figure who has a huge following in Iraq, lives in Najaf. He has representatives who follow his religious teachings in Kerbala, 110kms south west of Baghdad. -Reuters