Blood and violence as millions mark Ashura in Iraq
Millions of Shiites across Iraq on Sunday joined ceremonies marking the climax of annual Ashura rituals, marred by attacks that killed 21 people and a bloody uprising by doomsday cultists.
By Agencies |
KARBALA: Millions of Shiites across Iraq on Sunday joined ceremonies marking the climax of annual Ashura rituals, marred by attacks that killed 21 people and a bloody uprising by doomsday cultists.
Around two million people thronged the streets of the shrine city of Karbala in central Iraq for the main rituals commemorating the slaying of the revered Imam Hussein by the armies of the Sunni caliph Yazid in 680, according to provincial governor Akil al-Khazali.
"Two million people have come to Karbala for Ashura," Akil al-Khazali told a news conference as buses began ferrying the crowds of pilgrims home even before the conclusion of the 10-day event.
Around two million people thronged the streets of the shrine city of Karbala in central Iraq for the main rituals commemorating the slaying of the revered Imam Hussein by the armies of the Sunni caliph Yazid in 680, according to provincial governor Akil al-Khazali.
"Two million people have come to Karbala for Ashura," Akil al-Khazali told a news conference as buses began ferrying the crowds of pilgrims home even before the conclusion of the 10-day event.
"There have been no security violations and the ceremonies have gone ahead without incident."
The governor had earlier in the week announced the deployment of some 20,000 security force members in and around Karbala, about 100 kilometres south of Baghdad.
A spate of violence elsewhere in the country, however, took the gloss off the largely peaceful Karbala pilgrimage, which in recent years has been attacked by Sunni insurgents and disrupted by intra-Shiite fighting.
In northern Iraq, where US commanders say Al-Qaeda jihadists have set up their strongholds after being chased out of Baghdad and surrounding belts, separate roadside bomb and rocket attacks killed nine people, officials said.
In Tal Afar town, insurgents sent a Katyusha rocket scudding into a crowd observing Ashura, killing seven people and wounding 20, told the media.
The US military, meanwhile, said four Iraqis were killed in a mortar attack in Balad, 75 kilometres north of Baghdad in Salaheddin province.
The governor had earlier in the week announced the deployment of some 20,000 security force members in and around Karbala, about 100 kilometres south of Baghdad.
A spate of violence elsewhere in the country, however, took the gloss off the largely peaceful Karbala pilgrimage, which in recent years has been attacked by Sunni insurgents and disrupted by intra-Shiite fighting.
In northern Iraq, where US commanders say Al-Qaeda jihadists have set up their strongholds after being chased out of Baghdad and surrounding belts, separate roadside bomb and rocket attacks killed nine people, officials said.
In Tal Afar town, insurgents sent a Katyusha rocket scudding into a crowd observing Ashura, killing seven people and wounding 20, told the media.
The US military, meanwhile, said four Iraqis were killed in a mortar attack in Balad, 75 kilometres north of Baghdad in Salaheddin province.
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