( CNN ) -- For Muslims around the world , Eid al-Adha is a time of celebration , marked by visits from far-flung relatives , gift-giving and elaborate feasts . But this year , the joyous occasion Tuesday was marred by bomb blasts and deaths in violence-plagued Afghanistan and Iraq , and in civil war-wracked Syria . In southern Afghanistan , a member of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force died Tuesday after an attack by enemy forces , ISAF reported . ISAF did not identify the service member or the member 's nationality . Later Tuesday , the United Kingdom 's Defence Ministry said that enemy fire killed a British soldier who was on patrol Tuesday in southern Afghanistan 's Helmand province , northeast of the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah . It was n't immediately clear whether this was the death that ISAF reported . In the country 's east , a bomb placed under a stage killed the governor of Logar province as he was delivering an Eid al-Adha speech inside a mosque Tuesday morning . In addition to Gov . Mohammad Arsala Jamal , the blast killed four others and injured 15 more , the head of the provincial council , Abdul Wakil , told reporters . Jamal , who also had Canadian citizenship , was an outspoken critic of insurgents in Afghanistan . Before he served in Logar , he had been governor of eastern Afghanistan 's Khost province . In Iraq , at least 11 people were killed and 26 others wounded when a bomb exploded outside a mosque in central Kirkuk , Iraqi officials said . The bomb went off as worshippers were leaving the mosque , police said . And in Syria , where a bloody civil war continues to claim lives daily , three children were killed in an explosion that anti-government activists blamed on President Bashar al-Assad 's regime . A revered observance . Eid al-Adha is considered one of Islam 's most revered observances . It corresponds with the height of the Hajj , the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia that annually draws 2 million Muslims . It commemorates when God appeared to Abraham -- known as Ibrahim to Muslims -- in a dream and asked him to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience . As Abraham was about to perform the sacrifice , God stopped him and gave him a sheep to kill in place of his son . A version of the story also appears in the Torah and in the Bible 's Old Testament . The four-day celebration is also known as the Feast of Sacrifice , or Greater Eid . It is the longer of two Eid holidays observed by Muslims . Eid al-Fitr , or Little Eid , follows the conclusion of the holy month of Ramadan . CNN 's Mohammed Tawfeeq from Atlanta and journalist Qadir Sediqi from Kabul , Afghanistan , contributed to this report .
One service member killed in southern Afghanistan . In eastern Afghanistan , a bomb inside a mosque kills a woman . In Iraq , worshippers are targeted as they leave a prayer service . In Syria , two people are killed .