Earth Times - U.S.A.Friday, August 10, 2007
The pilgrimage to the Shiite Imam Mussa al-Kadhim shrine ended in Baghdad without any security breaches, Voices of Iraq reported Friday, citing military spokesman for the Baghdad security plan.
Iraqi security forces had "learned from the mistakes of past years," he added.
The exact number of visitors this year could not be accurately determined, but officials and clerics estimated the figure at 1 million pilgrims.
A curfew had been imposed across Baghdad Wednesday, with security including a ban on weapons, children and mobile phones as thousands arrived on foot from southern and central provinces.
In 2005, more than 1,000 people were killed and 300 injured when rumours of an attack prompted a stampede on the Jisr al-Aiema (Bridge of Imams) leading to the shrine.
Imam al-Kadhim was the seventh of the 12 most holy figures for Shiite Muslims. He was born in the year 128 of the Muslim Hegira calendar (750 AD) in Medina city in what is now Saudi Arabia, and died in Baghdad in the year 183 HC (805 AD).
[picture: Shiites pray at the Moussa al Kadhim shrine in the Kadhimiya neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq on Friday, June 11, 2004. The shrine is the holiest Shiite site in Baghdad. (Photo: Stefan Zaklin/EPA/AP Wide World) from http://tinyurl.com/39bh3r (www.teacher.scholastic.com)]
The pilgrimage to the Shiite Imam Mussa al-Kadhim shrine ended in Baghdad without any security breaches, Voices of Iraq reported Friday, citing military spokesman for the Baghdad security plan.
Iraqi security forces had "learned from the mistakes of past years," he added.
The exact number of visitors this year could not be accurately determined, but officials and clerics estimated the figure at 1 million pilgrims.
A curfew had been imposed across Baghdad Wednesday, with security including a ban on weapons, children and mobile phones as thousands arrived on foot from southern and central provinces.
In 2005, more than 1,000 people were killed and 300 injured when rumours of an attack prompted a stampede on the Jisr al-Aiema (Bridge of Imams) leading to the shrine.
Imam al-Kadhim was the seventh of the 12 most holy figures for Shiite Muslims. He was born in the year 128 of the Muslim Hegira calendar (750 AD) in Medina city in what is now Saudi Arabia, and died in Baghdad in the year 183 HC (805 AD).
[picture: Shiites pray at the Moussa al Kadhim shrine in the Kadhimiya neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq on Friday, June 11, 2004. The shrine is the holiest Shiite site in Baghdad. (Photo: Stefan Zaklin/EPA/AP Wide World) from http://tinyurl.com/39bh3r (www.teacher.scholastic.com)]
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