3 trains to carry Shiite visitors from Baghdad, Basra

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The transport ministry announced on Thursday that three trains will carry Shiite visitors from Baghdad and Basra to Karbala. “Two trains will move from Baghdad to al-Musayab, while the third train from Basra to Hilla, to transport the visitors to Karbala,” Jawad al-Kharsan, from the public company for railways, told IraqiNews.com news agency. Thousands of Shiite Muslims from all over Iraq and neighboring countries head for the shrine of Imam al-Hussein Ibn Ali in the holy Shiite city of Karbala for the Ashuraa, or the 10th of Muharram on the Muslim Hegira calendar. Ashuraa commemorates the slaughter of Imam al-Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, and his family and companions in the battle of Taf in Karbala in the Hegira year 61 (680 in the Gregorian calendar). Security agencies are working within a preemptive plan. We have intelligence elements spreading everywhere and we already deployed 30,000 security men on all the ways leading to Karbala. The holy Shiite city of Karbala lies 108 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. SH (S) 62