Snipers firing from rooftops and a cemetery killed at least 17 people in a series of attacks yesterday on a Shiite procession in Baghdad attended by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, officials said.
They said four gunmen were also killed and at least 253 people injured, most of them slightly when they fell while fleeing the gunfire.
The "terrorist assaults" took place when the pilgrims were walking through Sunni areas on their way to the shrine of Imam Moussa Kadhim, an 8th century saint, Health Ministry spokesman Qassim Allawi said.
PHOTO: AP
In one neighborhood, security forces and Shiite militiamen in flak jackets were seen exchanging gunfire with unseen assailants who were firing from houses and buildings. Some of the attackers were firing from behind tombstones in a Sunni cemetery.
The violence was not unexpected given the cycle of tit-for-tat attacks by Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq since the bombing of a Shiite mosque on Feb. 22.
Interior Ministry spokesman Colonel Saddoun Abu al-Ula said 17 pilgrims were killed and 253 injured during the attacks. Only a few of the injured sustained gunshot wounds while the rest suffered injuries in falls while running in panic, he said.
"We are responsible to make this work, despite these challenges," he said.
He said scores of militants were arrested, including some of those who fired on the pilgrims and others who were planning to.
Police said four militants including two snipers were killed.
Reporters saw women in black abaya helping each other as they ran for cover. Many took refuge under an overpass, ducking in fear at the sound of gunshots. A cleric in a dark gray robe and white turban, holding a gun, was seen being pushed away from the scene by a security personnel.
"I was walking and someone got shot in front of me. It wasn't random fire, it was a clear sniper attack," Mohammed Jassim, 32, said.
He said he could hear the faint crack of the shots despite the noise from the procession.
"People panicked and started yelling `it came from here, no from there,"' Jassim said.
Closer to Kazimiyah, Shiite pilgrims, wearing white shrouds to symbolize their willingness to die for Islam, chanted "God bless Muhammad and his descendants," as they converged from all parts of Baghdad on the shrine.
Shiites believe that Kadhim, one of the 12 saints of the Shiite sect who died in 799, was poisoned in prison by a Sunni caliph. He is buried inside the sprawling golden-domed shrine along with his grandson.
"We heed your call, Oh Imam!" the pilgrims sang before entering the compound, beating their chests and flagellating themselves with steel chains in a traditional Shiite expression of grief.
Fadhil al-Sharaa, an aide to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, claimed some 1 million people attended but other officials were more conservative, putting the figure at between 200,000 and 300,000.
The violence occurred despite thousands of troops being deployed and the government imposing ban on private vehicles from Friday night until Monday morning in a bid to prevent car bomb attacks.
About 1,000 people died during the Imam Kadhim commemoration last year when rumors of suicide bombers triggered a mass stampede on a bridge across the Tigris River.
SECURITY CONCERNS: The Telecom Technology Center ran black-box tests for the Executive Yuan on devices and software from Chinese, US and South Korean firms Network devices from several Chinese manufacturers are insecure and allow personal information to be leaked, testing commissioned by the Executive Yuan has shown. A variety of devices and software, including apps, from Chinese, US and South Korean manufacturers that are used by government agencies at the central and local level were subjected to black-box testing — in which the functionality of an application is examined without knowing about its internal structure, an information-security official said yesterday on condition of anonymity. The Telecom Technology Center conducted the tests, which simulated cyberattacks, to determine their resilience to the attacks, the official said. The center
Americans awoke yesterday to charred and glass-strewn streets in dozens of cities after another night of unrest fueled by rage over the mistreatment of African Americans at the hands of police, who responded to the violence with tear gas and rubber bullets. Tens of thousands marched peacefully through streets to protest the death of George Floyd, a black man who died on Monday last week after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on his neck until he stopped breathing. However, many demonstrations sank into chaos as night fell: Vehicles and businesses were torched. The words “I can’t breathe” were
The nation marked its 49th day with no new domestic COVID-19 cases yesterday, and there were no new imported cases, but that does not mean the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) can relax its attention, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said yesterday in Tainan as he and a team of health officials wrapped up a weekend visit to the city. The visit is part of the center’s efforts to promote domestic travel under the “new disease prevention lifestyle.” Among the 442 confirmed cases, 423 have been released from isolation and 12 people remain hospitalized, Chen
EXTRA INVITATIONS: Russia, Australia, South Korea and India would be asked to a later summit dedicated to countering China, Donald Trump said US President Donald Trump has been forced to cancel a planned face-to-face summit of G7 leaders this month and now wants to host an expanded meeting in September dedicated to countering China to which Russian President Vladimir Putin would be invited. Trump on Saturday announced that he had canceled the June meeting, which he had billed as a symbol of the US “transitioning back to greatness,” after German Chancellor Angela Merkel told him in a telephone call that she saw the summit in Washington as a health risk. Hundreds of security staff, journalists and officials also attend the two-day summits. Reports suggest
RSS