Major show of force in Iraq city ahead of festival

KERBALA, Iraq (Reuters) - Tanks, aircraft and 40,000 police and soldiers are being deployed in Iraq's holy city of Kerbala ahead of a religious festival that has in the past seen some of the country's worst violence, police said on Wednesday.

Millions of Shi'ite pilgrims are expected for next week's festival in Kerbala, 110 km (68 miles) south Baghdad and one of the holiest cities in Shi'ite Islam, local officials said.

In previous years, militants have killed scores of pilgrims in suicide and other attacks, and this year security is tighter than ever, Kerbala police chief Major-General Raad Shakir said.

Tanks are being used in the city for the first time since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

"This year is different from previous years, because the incidents of the past have given us lessons in facing armed groups and criminals in addition to providing comprehensive security to all visitors," he told Reuters.

Similar Shi'ite festivals have been targets for Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, which views Shi'ites, a majority in Iraq but a minority in the Muslim world, as heretics.

Many pilgrims have started to arrive for the event, known as Arbain, which commemorates the end of the 40-day mourning period following Ashura, a religious ritual that marks the death of Prophet Mohammad's grandson in 680.

Suspected Sunni Arab insurgents killed 149 pilgrims on their way to Kerbala for Arbain last year in one of the worst spasms of violence since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

In August, clashes between rival Shi'ite factions during another religious festival killed dozens of people and forced the hurried evacuation of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims.

The violence raised questions about the ability of Iraq's security forces to police such events, but in January Ashura passed off peacefully in the city.

Shakir said the 40,000 police and soldiers being deployed would include 400 sharp-shooters and 3,000 riot police. Some 600 security personnel will search women, he said. There have been a spate of suicide bombings carried out by women in recent weeks.

Kerbala police also said they had captured eight members of the Shi'ite messianic "Soldiers of Heaven" cult who had letters and other papers calling for chaos and riots during Arbain.

Iraqi soldiers and police fought battles with Soldiers of Heaven gunmen in the southern cities of Basra and Nassiriya in January during the Ashura festival.

(Writing by Mohammed Abbas; Editing by Stephen Weeks)