Scores killed in Iraq Shia blasts
More than 100 people have been killed in blasts targeting Iraqi Shias
as they celebrated one of their holiest days in the cities of Karbala
and Baghdad.
At least 50 people are reported to have died in each city, with many
hundreds wounded, in attacks that appeared to be co-ordinated.
US officials said mortars were fired at the mosque in Baghdad. It is
unclear what caused the blasts in Karbala.
Hospitals were overwhelmed, and mosques appealed for donations of
blood.
The Iraqi Governing Council offered condolences to relatives of the
dead and declared three days of national mourning.
Council member Adnan Pachachi read out a statement condemning
"terrorists" for trying to "destabilise the country through sectarian
strife".
It was the first time in decades that Iraq's majority Shia community
had been able to freely observe Ashura, commemorating the death of
Imam Hussein in 680.
Security had been tight as more than a million Shia Muslims flocked to
the holy city of Karbala - 80km (50 miles) south of Baghdad - for the
Ashura festival.
Many pilgrims also gathered at the main Shia Kadhimiya shrine in
Baghdad to mark the climax of the event.
Panic
Crowds fled through the streets of Karbala in panic after the first of
six blasts was heard at around 1000 local time (0700 GMT).
SHIA FESTIVAL: ASHURA
Annual Shia festival commemorating martyrdom of Imam Hussein
Hussein, grandson of Prophet Mohammad, killed at Karbala by army of
Caliph Yazid in 680
Faithful strike themselves with chains and swords to atone for Hussein
martyrdom
The murder 19 years earlier of Ali, Hussein's father, gave rise to the
central schism in Islam between Sunni and Shia
People - bloodied, with limbs lost - were carried to ambulances on
stretchers made from blankets and wooden carts.
"We were standing (next to the mosques) when we heard an explosion,"
said 18-year-old Tarar. "We saw flesh, arms, legs and more flesh. Then
the ambulance came."
Mosques appealed for blood over loudspeakers.
The BBC's Paul Wood in Karbala said rumours abounded about the source
of the blasts, varying from suicide and mortar attacks to bombs in
bins.
Iraqi TV said a car wired with explosives had been found by police
before it could be detonated.
In active defiance of the attacks, pilgrims continued the Ashura
rituals - on the day the festival reached its climax.
But, as shock turned to anger, the atmosphere in Karbala changed and
became extremely tense.
Our correspondent said anger was turned on anyone regarded as an
outsider. He saw an Iranian viciously beaten; an Italian photographer
was also attacked.
Shia officials said at least 50 people had been killed and more than
100 injured in Karbala, but the numbers may yet rise.
Angry crowds
Shortly after the Karbala attacks, four explosions rocked the Shia
district of Kadhimiya in north-west Baghdad.
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Hundreds of people were in the main mosque at the time. After the
blast, thousands of worshippers' shoes and sandals were strewn across
the street outside.
US military spokesman Corporal Craig Stowell said four mortar rounds
had been fired at the mosque from an unknown location.
But as American forces arrived at the scene, they were pelted with
stones by angry crowds and forced to withdraw.
According to Iraq's Health Minister Khdeir Abbas, at least 58 people
were killed and 128 wounded in Baghdad.
A morgue official quoted by Reuters news agency put the death toll at
75.
The Ashura festival - the most important in the Shia calendar - was
banned under Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime for fear it would
foment rebellion.
As Shia dominance grows in post-Saddam Iraq, it had been feared
somebody might target the event to provoke tensions between the two
sects.
As a result, Karbala was ringed by security forces - with Polish
soldiers policing the town's entry points and Shia militia guarding
its streets and shrines.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/3524589.stm
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