IRAQ: Shi'ite militiamen march in protest against attacks on Iraqi pilgrims.
- 00:00:16
- ITN Source
IRAQ: Shi'ite militiamen march in protest against attacks on Iraqi pilgrims.
Members of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia march in Baghdad to protest against attacks on Shi'ite pilgrims. About 200 members of the Mehdi Army, a militia loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, held a protest march in the Shi'ite district of al-Zafaraniya in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday (March 13) against attacks on Iraqi Shi'ite pilgrims. "It is a protest, a condemnation of the attacks that were carried out by the followers of the Jews, the Wahabis and their aides against the pilgrims of Abu Abdullah al-Hussein," Sheikh Osama al-Kanani, imam of Shi'ite al Rasoul mosque in Baghdad, told marchers. On Sunday (March 11) a suicide car bomber hit a truck carrying Shi'ite pilgrims in central Baghdad, killing 19 people and wounding 25. The pilgrims had been returning from the holy city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad, where millions gathered at the weekend for an important Shi'ite ritual, despite a series of attacks by suspected Sunni Arab insurgents that killed scores. Sectarian violence between Sunnis and majority Shi'ite Muslims has escalated since the bombing of the Shi'ite shrine in Samarra a year ago. Sadr formed the Mehdi Army in 2003. It is active in parts of Baghdad, Najaf, Kufa and Kerbala. CR/AD
ITN Source | March 13, 2007
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