The Foreign Office has appealed to intending pilgrims for Karbala and Najaf to avoid Iraq until stability and peace returns to that country.
Commenting on reports that some buses with Pakistani number plates had been burnt down at Karbala, the Foreign Office spokesman said that drivers of such vehicles had confirmed the reports and also that one bus had managed to escape damage.
He said that Foreign Office had issued an advisory to "intending pilgrims" to defer their plans until stability returns to that country.