Curfew for Shi'ite festival begins early in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Aug 8 (Reuters) A three-day curfew, meant to protect Shi'ite pilgrims gathering for a major religious festival, began across Baghdad today hours earlier than previously announced, police said.

Baghdad's chief military spokesman, Brigadier-General Qassim Moussawi, had said the vehicle ban would begin at 2330 hrs IST today but it was instead enforced from early this morning.

Moussawi's office could not be reached for comment.

Central Baghdad's normally bustling streets were quiet, with no cars on the roads and many shops shut as residents stayed home from work.

The early start to the curfew surprised many residents, who had planned to do last-minute grocery shopping before the announced start time.

Moussawi said yesterday the curfew would end at 0630 hrs IST on Saturday.

It took effect from Tuesday night in Baghdad's northern district of Kadhimiya, where thousands of pilgrims are expected to converge on the shrine of Imam Musa Kadhim in the next few days.

Nearly 1,000 Shi'ite pilgrims were killed in a stampede during the ceremony in 2005 when a crowd heading towards the shrine was panicked by rumours of a suicide bomber.

It was the greatest loss of Iraqi life in a single incident since the US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Last year gunmen, some on rooftops, ambushed the pilgrims as they walked in their tens of thousands to the shrine, killing at least 20 and wounding 300.

REUTERS SG SSC1210