BAGHDAD — Iraqi Army and police forces worked together to provide security for more than six million pilgrims traveling to Karbala to observe the Shiite ritual of Arbaeen, officials in Baghdad said Monday.Anti-Iraqi forces targeted the pilgrims killing more than 100 pilgrims on March 6. Iraqi Brig. Gen. Kassim Atta al-Moussawi said during a news conference in Baghdad Monday.
Arbaeen marks the end of 40 days of mourning for the Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson. He was assassinated in 680 A.D. by fellow Muslims who sought to prevent him from becoming the caliph, or Muslim leader. The caliphate became the foundation of Sunni Muslim rule, and the killing of Hussein was the start of the Sunni-Shiite split. Karbala is the home of the imam’s tomb and has been a site of pilgrimage since his death.
(PHOTO: U.S. Army Soldiers from A Battery, 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), along with Iraqi Army Soldiers, conduct a foot patrol through an area that has been frequented with attacks on Coalition forces, March 4. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jacob H. Smith.)
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