IRAQ: Thousands of Shi'ite pilgrims make their way to Kerbala to mark Arbaeen - the fortieth day since the death anniversary of Imam Hussein

Record ID: 863075

  • Title: IRAQ: Thousands of Shi'ite pilgrims make their way to Kerbala to mark Arbaeen - the fortieth day since the death anniversary of Imam Hussein
  • Date: 31st December 2012
  • Summary: PILGRIMS WALKING
  • Embargoed: 15th January 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • City:
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Conflict,People,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVABSEDHHT83NR32BJMY6NVB6TMG
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Tens of thousands of Shi'ite pilgrims made their way to Iraq's holy city of Kerbala on Monday (December 31) to attend Arbaeen rituals, despite a series of attacks across the country.
    Arbaeen marks the end of forty days of mourning since Ashura, a religious festival that commemorates the slaying of Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein at the battle of Kerbala in the year 680.
    Thousands of security forces were deployed along the route to the southern Iraqi city to safeguard pilgrims from the bloody attacks that have marred past pilgrimages.
    Tents were also put up along the way to serve pilgrims who were making the journey to Kerbala from various Iraqi provinces.
    "We are here to serve the pilgrims, offering them food, drink and health services along Street 60. The security plan is excellent and the situation is under control," said Arkan, a resident from Hilla.
    However, explosions across Iraq killed at least 10 people and wounded 46 on Monday, police said, amid a growing political crisis that is inflaming sectarian tensions.
    In the Shi'ite majority city of Hilla in the north, a parked car bomb went off near the convoy of the governor of Babil province, missing him but killing another person, police said.
    More than a million pilgrims are expected to converge on Kerbala for the Arbaeen rituals which will reach their climax late on Thursday (January 3).
    Iraq's former leader Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, placed strict limits on pilgrimages to Kerbala, but since his overthrow in 2003, these have become a show of strength for Iraq's Shi'ite majority and a prime target of Sunni Islamist insurgents.
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