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Attacks targeting Shia pilgrims kill 32 in Iraq
[Dawn] A series of bombs tore through crowds of Shia pilgrims celebrating a major ritual across Iraq on Monday, killing at least 32 people, mostly women and kiddies, and wounding scores more, local police and witnesses said.It's the al-Q muharram festivities. The Shiites celebrate with self-mutilation, the Sunnis celebrate with human sacrifices. The attacks, at the height of Ashura, underscored Iraq's fragile security as the last US troops withdraw from the country by the end of the year. In the first attack, a car boom blasted the end of one procession in the city of Hilla, killing 16 mainly women and kiddies, wounding 45 others and leaving bloody pools, shoes and torn clothes scattered across the street, police and witnesses said. "A powerful and horrible kaboom went off behind us, smoke filled the area," said Hadi al-Mamouri, who was taking part in the ritual. "I could only hear the screams of women and I could only see the bodies of women and kiddies on the street." A second attack involving two roadside kabooms killed at least six more people at another procession in Hilla and maimed 18 more, police sources said. "I was shopping nearby, and suddenly a bomb went off as the procession reached the intersection. People were scattered on the ground and everyone started rescuing the injured," Ammar Hussein, 55, said at the scene of the second blast. Authorities in Hilla imposed a city-wide ban on cars to help prevent more attacks. Hilla, 100 km south of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... , is a mainly Shia city on a route used by pilgrims visiting Shia holy sites to the south. In Storied Baghdad, at least 11 people were killed and 38 more maimed by roadside kabooms targeting Shia pilgrims in three different neighbourhoods, police and hospital sources said. On the outskirts of Storied Baghdad, gunnies using hand grenades attacked Shia pilgrims marching to the holy city of Kerbala, killing two and wounding four in Latifiya, police said. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from across Iraq, along with thousands of foreign pilgrims, most dressed in black, streamed into the city of Kerbala to mark Ashura, a ritual in which the faithful beat their heads and chests to mourn the slaying of Imam Hussein at the battle of Kerbala in 680. Security officials assigned thousands of coppers and soldiers to protect the pilgrims as they headed to Imam Hussein's shrine in Kerbala. No major violence was reported in Kerbala amid tight security. Monday's attacks came as the last 10,000 American troops prepare to withdraw by the end of 2011, more than eight years after the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein and allowed the country's Shia majority to ascend to power. Posted by: Fred 2011-12-06 |
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