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Bomb kills five Shia pilgrims in northeastern Iraq
[Dawn] A blast in northeastern Iraq killed five people Sunday in a crowd of pilgrims who had gathered for the most important Shia religious observance of the year, authorities said.It was the latest in a string of attacks targeting Shias during the 10 days of religious ceremonies that reached their high point Sunday. The blast in the town of Tuz Khormato wounded 15 people, police and medical officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information. Sunday's commemorations marked the climax of Ashoura, the yearly mourning period in which Shia Muslims remember the 7th Century death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein, in a battle in the central city of Karbala. Pilgrims among the hundreds of thousands traveling to the holy city and others preparing for commemorations elsewhere in Iraq over the past week have come under repeated attack by insurgents seeking to re-ignite sectarian violence that brought the country to the brink of civil war two years ago. Dozens have been killed and more than 150 injured. Ashura processions, when men beat themselves with swords and chains to demonstrate their grief, were banned under former dictator Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime. Publicly marking the holiday -- despite the threat of attacks -- has become a demonstration of strength for Iraq's majority Shias. The Iraqi government has flooded the area in and around Karbala with 25,000 extra security personnel. The government is eager to demonstrate that the withdrawal of American forces will not leave a security vacuum for the insurgents to exploit. Posted by: Steve White 2009-12-28 |
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