Shi ites mass in Iraqi city amid tight security

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

KERBALA, Iraq, Mar 19 (Reuters) Shi'ite Muslims massed in their hundreds of thousands around Kerbala today for one of the biggest events of their religious calendar as Iraqi security forces sealed off the city to protect pilgrims.

A sharp rise in sectarian tensions between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunnis, Iraq's two main communities, and a continuing Sunni Arab insurgency against the Shi'ite-led interim government has sparked fears the event could be a target.

A mortar round landed in the city's western district, sparking brief alarm, but police said it caused no casualties.

The streets of Kerbala, 110 km southwest of Baghdad, were packed with pilgrims -- waving green, black and red flags -- arriving for Arbain, mourning the defeat of Imam Hussein in a 7th century battle that sealed Islam's schism.

At least 8,000 Iraqi police and soldiers have been deployed in the city for the event. Local officials say they expect as many as 2 million people to attend the mourning ritual tomorrow, many having walked from Baghdad and even further afield.

''I walked here from Basra here to declare loyalty to Imam Hussein, but I'm afraid because I expect a blast to kill me at any minute,'' said Samer Kathum as he took a rest from his 400 km pilgrimage in a tent outside Kerbala.

At least four pilgrims walking from Baghdad were killed in shootings and a roadside bomb blast in the past two days. In March 2004 attacks on pilgrims in Kerbala and Baghdad killed more than 170 people.

SAND BANK ''We have deployed 8,000 soldiers and police. The police are protecting the inside of Kerbala while the army is working outside the city,'' police chief Abdul-Razzak al-Ta'ee said.

Residents said police were patrolling the streets with members of the Shi'ite Mehdi Army militia of radical Islamic cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Ta'ee said plain-clothes policemen were also mingling with pilgrims, their weapons concealed.

A sand bank has been built around the city to control access, residents said. Police also set up checkpoints up to 20 km from the city and told pilgrims arriving by car to leave their vehicles and proceed on foot.

The US military said earlier this week that 650 troops held in reserve in Kuwait were being sent to provide extra security during Arbain and the formation of a new government.

Talks on the government, deadlocked three months after elections, have been complicated by a wave of sectarian killings sparked by the bombing of a major Shi'ite mosque on February. 22. The violence has pushed Iraq towards the brink of civil war.

Arbain is the 40th and final day of mourning for Imam Hussein, grandson of Mohammad, who was killed in 680 in a battle at Kerbala that sealed the schism that persists today between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims.

Many pilgrims beat themselves and slash their heads with swords and flails to express their grief during the ceremony, which was banned by Saddam Hussein.

REUTERS DKS LR BST1753

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