BAGHDAD, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Iraq's paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) announced Saturday that one of its members was killed and two others were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in Karbala province.

A statement by the PMF said that the explosion struck a PMF patrol tasked with protecting convoys of pilgrims traveling to perform the Hajj pilgrimage.

A Karbala police officer told Xinhua anonymously that an investigation has been launched to identify those behind the attack, noting it is the first such incident since the start of this year's Hajj transport operations.

The strategic road witnesses the daily passage of dozens of convoys of pilgrims, with fixed and mobile patrols from the Iraqi security forces securing the route, an important land gateway for Iraqi pilgrims. ■