Nine killed in Iraq as region marks Shi'ite event

By Sami al-Jumaili

KERBALA, Iraq (Reuters) - Attacks in northern Iraq killed nine people on the final day of a major Shi'ite ritual on Saturday, and Pakistani police said they had thwarted a suicide bombing and cyanide attack on worshippers from the religious minority.

The deaths came as millions of Shi'ites across the region marked the climax of the 10-day Ashura rites, which have often been flashpoints for violence and the target of attacks by Sunni militants including al Qaeda.

Seven Iraqis were killed in a rocket attack after observing Ashura in Tal Afar, 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police Brigadier General Najim Abdullah said. In the northern city of Kirkuk, a bomb killed two pilgrims heading to a mosque for the annual ceremonies.

Ashura was severely curtailed under Sunni President Saddam Hussein, but has seen a revival since he was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Some 2.5 pilgrims thronged streets and alleys in the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala to mourn the slaying in 680 of the Prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussein near the town.

"I was very glad to be among the millions of pilgrims in Kerbala. But to be frank, I have some fears that we might be attacked on the way back home," said Ibrahim Hashim, 40, a teacher from Baghdad.

Imam Hussein's death entrenched the schism between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims over whom they recognized as the successors of Mohammed. Some Sunnis regard Shi'ites as heretics.

In a sign of mourning during Ashura, many Shi'ites beat their chests to the sound of drums and religious chants, or flagellate themselves, often drawing blood.

In Pakistan, provincial police chief Azhar Ali Farooqi told a news conference the arrest on Friday of five suspected attack plotters "averted a big disaster ... but the threat of suicide attacks is still there".

He said the men belonged to different Sunni Muslim militant groups. Police seized bomb-making equipment including explosives and detonators, as well as 500 grams (17 oz) of cyanide that Farooqi said was going to be used to poison drinks handed out to people at Ashura processions.

MOURNING AND SUPPORT

In Lebanon, where Shi'ites are the largest Muslim sect making up some 30 percent of the estimated 4 million-strong population, hundreds of thousands of Shi'ites converged on Hezbollah's southern Beirut bastion to mourn Imam Hussein and support the guerrilla group and political party.

This year, Ashura coincides with Lebanon's worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. The protracted conflict pits the Shi'ite Hezbollah-led opposition against its domestic rivals, the anti-Syrian majority.

Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah used the occasion to say group possessed body parts including heads, hands and legs of Israeli soldiers left on southern Lebanon's battlefields during the 2006 war -- a comment apparently aimed at pressuring Israel to speed up U.N.-mediated talks for a prisoner swap deal.

The two arch-foes fought a 34-day war in 2006 after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.