31 killed, 99 injured during Shia Muslims celebrations in Karbala
As many as 31 persons were killed and 99 others
injured during Shia Muslims celebrations of Ashuraa Day in Karbala city,
southern Baghdad, Al Arabiya Al Hadath reported quoting the Iraqi Health
Ministry.
Meanwhile, security officials said a bridge was
collapsed as a result of influx of participants in the ceremony, leaving behind
scores of casualties.
The day of Ashura is marked by Muslims as a whole,
but for Shia Muslims it is a major religious commemoration of the martyrdom at
Karbala of Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.
It falls on the 10th of Muharram, the first month of
the Islamic lunar calendar.
It is marked by Muslims with a voluntary day of
fasting which commemorates the day Noah left the Ark, and the day that Moses
was saved from Pharaoh by God
For Shia Muslims, Ashura is a solemn day of mourning
the martyrdom of Hussein in 680 AD at Karbala in modern-day Iraq.