51 dead as Shia gunmen clash at religious festival
Sporadic gunfire echoed through the centre of Karbala in Iraq early today after clashes between rival Shiite militias claimed up to 51 lives.
Officials were forced to abort a Shiite religious festival that had drawn up to one million pilgrims from around the world.
Prime Minister Nouri Maliki arrived early today to meet local officials trying to restore order and move the hordes of pilgrims away from the beleaguered city.
Pilgrims were ordered to leave the area of the shrines, and armoured Iraqi army Humvees drove slowly through the largely deserted area during the morning saying over loudspeakers that anyone caught there would be arrested.
Security officials said Mahdi Army gunmen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr yesterday fired on guards around two shrines protected by the Badr Brigade, the armed wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.
Residents of Karbala contacted by telephone said snipers were firing on Iraqi security forces from rooftops. Explosions and the rattle of automatic weapons fire could be heard during telephone calls to reporters Tuesday in the city 50 miles south of Baghdad.
Officials reported 51 dead and 247 injured yesterday, but the city council member said today that 38 had been killed and 231 injured.
The clashes appeared to be part of a power struggle among Shiite groups in the sect's southern Iraqi heartland, which includes the bulk of the country's vast oil wealth.
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said entrances and exits to Karbala "have been secured and more forces are on the way from other provinces".
Officials said buses were sent to evacuate pilgrims from the city, which includes some of the world's most sacred Shiite shrines.
Gunfights also broke out yesterday between Mahdi militiamen and followers of the Supreme Council in at least two Shiite neighbourhoods of Baghdad and in Kut, about 100 miles south-east of the capital, police said.
Extra police took up positions in the centre of another Shiite city, Diwaniyah, after gunmen fired on a mosque associated with the Supreme Council, police said.
A curfew was clamped on the Shiite city of Najaf after a mortar round exploded on a major square, causing no casualties, officials said.
