VP Abdulmahdi offers condolences over Karbala victims

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdulmahdi on Saturday offered condolences to the relatives of victims of a deadly blast in the holy Shiite city of Karbala on Friday, calling for “closing ranks to face terror”. “While devout pilgrims were marking the arbaeen of Imam al-Hussein, the Master of Martyrs, the forces of darkness, terrorism and takfir only sought to disturb that air of faith and purity,” read Abdulmahdi’s statement as received by IraqiNews.com news agency. He called for “closing ranks and mustering all powers in order to face terrorism and vanquish the enemies of the people”. A nearly final count of casualties from the blasts that targeted pilgrims in Karbala’s Imam al-Hussein arbaeen on Friday is 41 deaths and 144 others wounded, according to a local medic. “Most of the casualties are women and children,” the medic told IraqiNews.com. He said that among the wounded there are 60 women and four children. “Some corpses and human body parts have not yet been identified,” the source said. The arbaeen pilgrimage is a religious occasion marking the 40th day after the death of Imam al-Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson and the third holiest figure for Shiite Muslims, in the battle of Taf in Karbala in the Hegira year 61 (680 on the Gregorian calendar). Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from inside and outside Iraq were flowing on foot into the city for the holy rituals. Tight security measures have been in force and a large number of security personnel have been deployed in Iraq’s holy sites in preparation for the occasion. Karbala, said to be housing the tombs of Imam al-Hussein and his brother Imam al-Abbas, lies 110 km southeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. AmR (S) 2