Officers in charge interrogated over Karbala blast

KARBALA / IraqiNews.com: Police officers in charge of security in Karbala are currently interrogated over the blasts that hit the city throughout the past days, a local police commander said on Saturday. “Probe committees have been set up to investigate the reasons behind the incidents and the degree of negligence on the part of those responsible,” Staff Lt. Gen. Othman al-Ghanimi told IraqiNews.com news agency. A final count of casualties from the blasts that targeted pilgrims in Karbala’s Imam al-Hussein Arbaeen on Friday (Feb. 5) is 41 deaths and 144 others wounded, according to a local medic. 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. SS (S)/SR 1