 Fighting between unidentified gunmen and Iraqi security forces in the holy city of Karbala has left 6 people dead and 28 others wounded.
| This is the Iranian take, from Iran Press TV... |
The sound of gunfire reverberated Tuesday around the shrine of Imam Hussein as pilgrims from across Iraq and the Muslim world were celebrating the birth anniversary of Imam al-Mahdi, the twelfth Shia Imam, who is seen as a savior. Police said gunmen armed with automatic weapons and pistols tried to take control of the area around the two shrines of the city. They confronted the police and army who opened fire.
Karbala police chief Brigadier General Hamid Raad Shaker said gunmen fired at police who returned fire, and that several mortar shells landed near Imam Hussein's shrine. A senior hospital official in Kerbala said six people had been killed and 28 wounded in the clashes.
| The corpse count's up around 50 as we post this... |
Police quickly sealed off the area and the shrine was closed. They also prevented more pilgrims from entering Karbala, around 110 kilometers south of Baghdad. Local authorities began evacuating Shia pilgrims from the holy city. Police said buses had been readied to take pilgrims out of the southern city while police and army reinforcements were heading toward the city's shrines. |