Shiites pour into Karbala despite blasts

Karbala, Iraq: Hundreds of thousands of Shiites poured into Karbala yesterday, defying bomb attacks across the country to attend a rite that has become an annual show of strength for the Shiite majority.

Many of the visitors have walked for days in temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius to mark the birth of Imam Mohammad Al Mahdi. A bomb in a parked car struck visitors walking in Baghdad early on Saturday, killing six and wounding 10, police said.

Late on Friday, a van packed with explosives was detonated at a bus station where visitors were assembling in Balad, a Shiite town in a mainly Sunni area north of Baghdad, killing nine people and wounding 40, according to police.

On Thursday, a female suicide bomber killed 19 Shiites and wounded 75 when she blew herself up amid a group making the journey on foot near Iskandariya south of Baghdad.

Avoiding bloodshed

Authorities said they had managed to avoid bloodshed in Karbala itself after last year's rite was marked by gun battles between Shiite factions and Iraqi security forces.

"Thank God the situation is under control. We haven't observed any security violations. People are happy and cooperating with security forces," said Captain Abdullah Mohammad of the Iraqi army in Karbala.

Najim Mohammad Al Lami, 43, said he had walked for six days with his wife and two children from the southern city of Basra.

"We come every year. Last year my son was wounded by a bullet, but I insisted on coming again anyway. This year the situation is more secure and organised."

The event is one of several annual rites that have evolved into massive demonstrations of strength for the Shiite majority since the fall of dictator Saddam Hussain, a Sunni Arab who restricted Shiite religious practice.

The events are targets for attacks despite the sharp decline in violence in the country.

Mahdi Army warning

Authorities have banned people from carrying weapons and chanting sectarian slogans.

Iraqi security forces, backed by helicopters and hundreds of snipers on rooftops, say they will search visitors and use sniffer dogs to help find explosives. US forces have virtually no troops stationed in the Karbala area.

Police in fatigues and red berets checked identity cards and searched the faithful entering the golden-domed Imam Hussain mosque, strung with brightly coloured lights. Nearby, makeshift clinics were set up in tents. Some visitors donated blood.

Many of the worst attacks of Iraq's war have taken place during such events.

Outrage among Shiite groups after the violence in last year's event prompted anti-American cleric Moqtada Al Sadr to declare a ceasefire of his Mahdi Army militia, which US forces say has helped contribute to a reduction of violence.

Last week Al Sadr formed a new social wing of his movement and said most Mahdi Army fighters would disarm.

New armed cells would be trained to attack US bases if the Americans decide to remain in Iraq for the long term, Al Sadr's spokesman Salah Al Ubaidi said in a statement yesterday.

"The future of these cells and their resistance action depends on the American decision: either to implement a withdrawal timetable or to establish long-term bases."