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Iraqi Shiites remember martyr

Tens of thousands of Iraqis marched and beat themselves yesterday in blood-soaked processions through the holy city of Karbala and other Shiite centers across Iraq to mourn the 7th century death of their revered martyr, Imam Hussein.

Amid tight security and as a fierce sand storm swept the country, hundreds of thousands of people descended on Karbala where Hussein is believed to be buried to take part in ceremonies marking Ashoura, the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic lunar calendar.

Authorities hope to prevent Sunni Arab suicide bombers targeting the event as they have done during the previous two years, killing more than 230 people.

About 20,000 men wearing white shrouds and waving swords above their heads began marching from 2am between the gold-domed Imam Hussein shrine and another dedicated to his brother, Abbas, about 1km away. Thousands more onlookers lined the road as they marched through Karbala, 80km south of Baghdad.

Following dawn mosque prayers, about 8,000 people, including children aged as young as eight, dressed in black as a sign of mourning, marched between the two shrines to the beat of deep bass drums.

Some slapped chains across their backs until their clothes were soaked with blood, while others beat their heads with the flat side of swords and knives until blood ran freely.

"Although it is a sad day, I'm very happy because I took part in these head-beating processions," said 10-year-old school boy Haider Abbas Salim, whose face was covered in blood. "Imam Hussein's martyrdom teaches us manhood and that we shouldn't fear anything."

Hussein was the grandson of Islam's Prophet Mohammed and was massacred along with about 70 followers by an army of Umayyads, their rivals for leadership of the Muslim community, during a 680AD battle in Karbala. Hussein's death cemented the split in Islam between Shiites and Sunni Muslims.

The Ashoura ceremonies come amid heightened sectarian tensions in Iraq between Shiites and Sunni Arabs and a campaign of kidnappings and killings carried out on respective members of each communities.

Pools of fresh blood covered the road through Karbala on which mourners flagellated themselves. The scene was repeated in other locations across the country, including in Baghdad's northern Kazimiyah suburb, a Shiite stronghold. Shiite pilgrims from other countries, including India, traveled to Karbala to attend the ceremony.

Shiites are the majority in Iraq, comprising about 60 percent of the nation's 27 million people. But only 15 percent of the world's Muslims are Shiites, the bulk being Sunni.

Under Saddam Hussein, Shiites were restricted from performing Ashoura-related rituals, such as processions of men beating themselves with their hands, chains and the flat edges of swords in shows of grief.

More than 8,000 security forces and extra Shiite militiamen have deployed in Karbala, frisking pilgrims and preventing vehicles from entering the city to prevent a repetition of the carnage caused by suicide bombers in the past two years.

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