Millions of Iraqis gather for Ashura

Millions of Shia Muslims gathered at shrines and mosques across Iraq on Sunday for the Ashura religious festival while Iraqi forces stood watch against the bloody attacks that have marred past pilgrimages. Loudspeakers blared traditional Ashura chants across Baghdad and the city of Kerbala, site of the most important shrine where Shias commemorate the slaying of the prophet Mohammad's grandson Hussein in 680 AD.
Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, placed strict limits on the traditional pilgrimage to Kerbala, but since his overthrow in 2003 Ashura has become a show of strength for Iraq's Shia majority and a prime target of Sunni Islamist insurgents.
Security is especially important ahead of a March 7 national election, with Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki struggling to defend his claim to having quelled violence in Iraq after a spate of devastating bombings in the capital in recent months.
Some 20,000 members of Iraq's security forces formed cordons around Kerbala, vehicles were banned and 1,000 snipers were perched on the roofs of buildings. Troops stood watch with bomb-sniffing dogs and the wands used to detect explosives.
"It was difficult to get in, but it's better than having bombings and lots of victims," said Mohammed Abu Sajad, a pilgrim at Kerbala. Pilgrims, most dressed in black, thronged the streets leading to Kerbala's golden-domed shrines of Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas, many beating their chests in mourning and chanting accounts of Hussein's death on the battlefield at Kerbala.
For Shias, Hussein's death symbolises confronting tyranny in the face of overwhelming odds. It is also a reminder of the rift with Sunnis, who do not revere Hussein as Shias do, over the prophet Mohammad's succession. Years of sectarian warfare after the US invasion almost tore Iraq apart.
Despite the tight security there have been sporadic, mostly small-scale attacks on pilgrims in recent days. One roadside bomb killed four pilgrims and wounded 18 in Tuz Khurmato, north of Baghdad, early on Sunday. Another killed two pilgrims and wounded eight in Baghdad on Saturday. The vast number of pilgrims streaming into Kerbala on foot from across Iraq makes it very difficult to ensure security during Ashura.