6 dead, 12 wounded during Ashuraa pilgrimage

KARBALA / IraqiNews.com: Twelve Ashuraa pilgrims were wounded when the wall of a school in eastern Karbala city they were gathering close to collapsed on Friday while six other aged pilgrims died, according to a local health official. “Pilgrims were gathered near the fence of a school in the area of Bab Tuwayrij, eastern Karbala, when the wall collapsed, wounding them,” Laith al-Sherifi, the director of the Karbala Health Department’s Operations Section, told IraqiNews.com news agency. “Medics treated eight wounded people while four others were taken to al-Husseini Hospital to received treatment from various fractures,” he added. “Six aged pilgrims died during the Ashuraa in the thickly-crowded shrines and surrounding areas,” he said, noting their bodies were removed to al-Husseini Hospital to hand over to their relatives. Officials in Karbala have spoken about 3.5 million Ashuraa pilgrims in Karbala, including about 100,000 who came from outside Iraq. Millions of Shiite Muslims from all over Iraq and neighboring countries had headed 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). The holy Shiite city of Karbala lies 108 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. AmR (S) 41