By Xinhua
Baghdad : Three policemen were wounded on Friday when Iraqi security forces clashed with unknown gunmen in Iraq’s southern province of Basra, a provincial police officer said.
“The clash broke out when gunmen opened fire on a procession of Shiite worshippers, gathering in the al-Jumhuriya neighborhood in the province to commemorate the religious ritual of Ashura,” Col. Abdul Kareem al-Zaidi, the provincial police spokesman, told Xinhua.
The clash resulted in the wounding of three policemen, Zaidi said, adding that “the situation is under control.”
The attack came as the Iraqi government had imposed a ban on vehicles in Baghdad, Diyala Province and all of the country’s southern provinces including Basra on the occasion of Ashura ceremonies, which started from 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) Thursday to 6 p.m.(1500 GMT) Saturday.
The Shiite religious festival of Ashura marks the death of Imamal-Hussein, Prophet Muhammad’s grandson and the third holiest Imam of the 12 Imams most revered by Shiite Muslims, who was killed in a battle named Taf in Karbala in the seventh century.
Basra, some 550 km south of Baghdad, is the second largest city in Iraq and a major hub for Iraq’s oil industry.