By DPA,
Baghdad: More than 21,000 Iraqi soldiers will provide security for Shia Muslims gathering in the city of Karbala in the coming days, a senior military officer said Monday.
Hundreds of thousands of Shia Muslims are expected to converge on the tomb of Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson, who was killed in battle in Karbala in the year 680.
In contrast to previous years, US forces will not help maintain security for the pilgrimage, Lieutenant-General Othmanal-Ghanemi, head of security for the city, said.
Helicopter gunships and three armoured battalions will support the tens of thousands of Iraqi police and soldiers, according to al-Ghanemi.
This year’s pilgrimage comes close on the heels of increased sectarian violence between Iraq’s Shia and Sunni Muslims.
Five consecutive bombings targeting mosques associated with Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s movement left 30 people dead and more than 100 wounded Friday.
That was followed by a series of bombs targeting Iraqi Sunnis.
At least two people were killed and seven others were wounded in a suicide car bomb attack in western Iraq’s Sunni heartland, al-Anbar province, Monday. The day before, a powerful car bomb in a crowded market the nearby town of al-Haditha, killed at least seven people and wounded 20 more.
Al-Ghanemi said Iraqi troops have already found 12 bombs planted along the roads pilgrims use to walk to Karbala. Security forces had detained two men on suspicion of planting the devices, he added.
On Thursday, worshipers will fast and say prayers through the 15th night of the Islamic month of Shaban, when, according to some traditions within Islam, God is more receptive to prayers.