A suicide bomber killed six people in rural area west of Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim city of Kerbala on Monday where locals were preparing for a major religious event, the interior ministry said.
The bomber blew himself up in Ain al-Tamr after security forces killed five of his accomplices and surrounded him in a house, the ministry added.
The attack came as Iraq's Shi'ite majority were preparing to mark Arbaeen on Monday - the end of a 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohammad's grandson.
No one immediately claimed responsibility, but hardline Sunni Muslim group Islamic State has attacked Shi'ite rituals in the past.