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Cars off Baghdad streets as Shi'ites gather

Posted on: Saturday, 19 August 2006, 08:02 CDT

By Ross Colvin

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Baghdad's streets were largely empty on Saturday after the government banned all movement of vehicles to guard against any attack on a major Shi'ite religious festival in a city gripped by sectarian violence.

Snipers were posted on rooftops while Iraqi soldiers and police sealed off the streets around the shrine of Imam Musa Kadhim in the northern district of Kadhimiya, the focus of the two-day festival. Pilgrims entering the area were body-searched.

Nearly 1,000 Shi'ite pilgrims were killed in a stampede during last year's ceremony, when a crowd heading toward the shrine was panicked by rumors of a suicide bomber.

It was the greatest loss of Iraqi life in a single incident since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003. Most of the victims were women and children, Iraqi officials said at the time.

Dozens of armed Mehdi Army militiamen loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr marched down Kadhimiya's main street. Wearing black T-shirts, camouflage trousers and woolen caps and toting AK-47 guns, they were deployed to protect the pilgrims, seven of whom were killed by gunmen in a Sunni suburb on Friday night.

Baghdad has been racked by sectarian bloodshed between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunnis since an attack on a Shi'ite shrine in February. The violence has overshadowed the Sunni insurgency and raised fears of all-out civil war.

Thousands of U.S. troop reinforcements have been sent to the capital city to help Iraqi security forces, who have so far failed to quell the violence that has killed thousands.

Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose three-month-old government has battled to defuse sectarian tensions, called on mosque preachers to promote national reconciliation and vowed to pursue anyone "using Islam to promote sectarian violence."

Iraqi Army Brigadier Abdul-Jabbar al-Hamdani declined to say how many soldiers and police had been deployed but said there were three security rings around the shrine to protect pilgrims.

Palm groves and cemeteries, potential launchpads for mortar or rocket attacks, were also being searched.

"All vehicles are banned in Baghdad indefinitely," a Ministry of Defense spokesman said. The vehicle curfew began at 9 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Friday.

PILGRIMS WALK

Groups of pilgrims, some waving green flags, walked through the otherwise empty streets toward Kadhimiya. "It is a gift from God that we are safe. It is thanks to the police, army and Interior Ministry forces," one pilgrim said.

Marking the third anniversary of the bombing that killed 22 United Nations staff and wounded 166 at their Baghdad headquarters in 2003, U.N. special envoy Ashraf Qazi called for a swift solution to the violence wracking Iraq.

"The tragedy that the people of Iraq have endured with patience, hope and faith must be overcome, and soon. There is no time to lose," he told a ceremony in Baghdad marking the worst attack on a U.N. civilian mission.

A roadside bomb targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Jamil al-Haji, chief of staff of the 8th Iraqi Infantry Division, killed two of his bodyguards in Diwaniya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police in the town said.

Haji escaped unhurt and soldiers arrested three suspects.

The government has advised pilgrims attending the festival not to carry weapons, bags or mobile phones, which can be used to detonate bombs, accept food or drink from strangers, or "believe or start rumors that cause panic."

At least 965 people were killed last year in the panic sparked by rumors of an imminent attack by a suicide bomber. Many got caught in the crush on A'imma bridge over the Tigris or drowned when they jumped into the river.

Brigadier Hamdani said the bridge had been closed to pilgrims this year.

Shi'ite religious festivals attract tens of thousands of faithful and have been a frequent target of attack by militants, including members of al Qaeda.

This weekend Shi'ites will mark the death of Imam Musa Kadhim in 799 A.D. Islamic historians say he was poisoned by the leader of the Muslim caliphate, who feared him as a rival.

Source: REUTERS

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