Shi'ites brave pilgrimage despite bomb threats
- 12 years ago
Pilgrims on the road to Kerbala.
Tens of thousands of Shi'ite Muslims in Baghdad are heading to the holy city of Kerbala, despite the violence.
Scores have been killed and more than 200 wounded in attacks on pilgrims in the last five days.
Violence in Iraq has spiked since the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki issued an arrest warrant for a Sunni vice president and the main Sunni backed party boycotted parliament.
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED SHI'ITE PILGRIM, SAYING:
"We tell the terrorists that we are not afraid and we challenge them, we will keep walking all the time, Iraqis and people from outside Iraq's borders."
A political crisis since the U.S. pullout has raised fears among many Iraqis of a return to the sectarian slaughter in which tens of thousands were killed from 2006-07.
Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters.
Tens of thousands of Shi'ite Muslims in Baghdad are heading to the holy city of Kerbala, despite the violence.
Scores have been killed and more than 200 wounded in attacks on pilgrims in the last five days.
Violence in Iraq has spiked since the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki issued an arrest warrant for a Sunni vice president and the main Sunni backed party boycotted parliament.
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED SHI'ITE PILGRIM, SAYING:
"We tell the terrorists that we are not afraid and we challenge them, we will keep walking all the time, Iraqis and people from outside Iraq's borders."
A political crisis since the U.S. pullout has raised fears among many Iraqis of a return to the sectarian slaughter in which tens of thousands were killed from 2006-07.
Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters.