Rocket Kills 7 Shiite Pilgrims in Iraq

Source: Los Angeles Times

Rocket kills 7 Shiite pilgrims in Iraq

By Garrett Therolf, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 20, 2008
BAGHDAD -- Seven people were killed in Iraq's northwest Saturday when a rocket landed amid a gathering of Shiite Muslims marking their most important holiday of the year.

The young pilgrims had just completed reenactments of the slaying of the prophet Muhammad's grandson and revered saint, Imam Hussein, when the Katyusha rocket exploded. Another seven people were critically injured in the attack in Tall Afar, 240 miles northwest of Baghdad.

It was the third day of violence surrounding the Ashura holiday, coming on the heels of deadly clashes in the south between security forces and a Shiite cult intent on disrupting the occasion. The fighting in Basra and Nasiriya ended Saturday, but it was unclear how many people had been killed, and some officials lowered the death toll without explanation. Some government reports said more than 80 cult members and Iraqi security officers had died, but others said 43 were killed.

The outbreak of violence in the south was an embarrassment for Iraqi security forces in the area who had been intent on maintaining order in the wake of Britain's transfer of the region last month.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-iraq20jan20,1,3571421.story?coll=la-news-a_section

snorts of derision echo throughout Solly's house