Baghdad - Dressed in black and green stripes and carrying
colourful banners, thousands of Iraqi Shiite Muslims commemorated
Thursday the killing of Imam Hussein, the grandson of prophet
Mohammed, amid heightened security in the Southern city of Karbala,
media reports said.
Many Shiite pilgrims from across Iraq carried food and water
supplies and walked for hundreds of kilometres to the city, following
centuries-old rituals, in the hope that walking would earn them more
rewards and blessings from God, al-Sharqiya news channel reported.
The former regime of Saddam Hussein banned all Shiite religious
ceremonies, including the ritual of travelling on foot to the shrine
of Karbala, traditionally held to be the tomb of Hussein, who died in
the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD.
The battle was one on a series of conflicts between Sunnis and
Shiites.
The event is marked by heightened security in the city, 120
kilometres south of the Iraqi capital. The government has deployed
100,000 police and troops across southern Iraqi cities in preparation
for the ceremony a week ago.
Security forces arrested on Wednesday a suicide bomber amongst the
Shiite visitors in a checking point northern the holy city, the Iraqi
news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) said.
'We were suspicious about the suicide bomber after noticing slight
stuffing around his arms and abdomen. We immediately arrested him
before he blew himself up amongst the visitors,' sources told VOI.
Iraqi forces also arrested three suspects during a large
inspection operation in southern Karbala in the early hours of
Wednesday.
Weapons and explosives were also confiscated, according to VOI.
Karbala was the scene of deadly clashes during a religious
ceremony in August between Shiite militias, in which at least 50
people were killed and hundred injured.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story