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Amidst turmoil of war, Iraq experiences worst stampede tragedy of21 st century
Amidst ongoing war which has taken the lives of tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens, Iraq today experienced one of the worst stampede tragedies of the21 st century, taking the lives of an estimated 1000panic stricken civilians who scrambled to avoid a suicide bomber whom they believed mistakenly was amongst them.
What began as a tragedy of seven deaths when mortar rounds were fired at a crowd of Shiite pilgrims on their way to religious celebrations on Wednesday, ended with what medical officials believe to be at least 1000dead, as crowds rushed in a fearful stampede to their deaths after hearing rumors of a suicide bomber about to detonate his explosives.
According to eyewitnesses, a crowd member yelled that a suicide bomber was about to blow himself up as hundreds of pilgrims were crossing Baghdad's Tigris River Bridge on their way to celebrate at the Kadhimiya mosque. The pilgrims were on their way to celebrate the martyrdom of Musa Al Kadhim, an important Shiite religious figure.
"Hundreds of people started running and some threw themselves off the bridge into the river," one Iraqi source said. "Many elderly died immediately as a result of the stampede but dozens drowned." Iraqi sources believe most of the victims to be women and children.
According to Reuters, two top Iraqi Shiite officials have accused loyalists to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of deliberately causing the tragedy stampede.
"We hold the terrorists, Saddamists and radical extremists, responsible for what happened," Ammar al Hakim, a leader in the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
However, Iraq's Defense Minister responded to the accusations, saying that the tragedy had nothing to do with rivalries in Iraq.
Earlier in the day, seven people were killed and 36 wounded when three separate mortar attacks targeted the Shiite pilgrims.
Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari announced a three day morning period in honor of the victims.
Many believe that such attacks will become more frequent as Iraq becomes increasing divided along ethnic lines against the backdrop of the nation's current constitution dispute. The proposed constitution was approved last Sunday by Iraq's national assembly, with Shiite and Kurdish delegates approving and Sunni Arab delegates objecting.
Shiites make up some 60 percent of Iraq's27 million population. They, along with Kurdish groups, expressed satisfaction with the constitution draft, which protects them from discrimination faced under former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Kurdish groups as well were pleased by the document's text, which set a 2007 deadline for settling whether the oil-rich region of Kirkuk should be a part of an autonomous Kurdish enclave.
Iraq's Sunni minority, comprising only 15 to30 percent of the nation's population, and seen as the backbone of resistance to Iraq's present US-backed regime, feels that they are being discriminated against by the countries vast majority.
They are expected to vote down the constitution when presented for public approval at an upcoming October referendum.
Some analysts feel that the constitution crisis could result in what might become an Iraqi "civil-war".
http://www.albawaba.com/en/news/188323
According to eyewitnesses, a crowd member yelled that a suicide bomber was about to blow himself up as hundreds of pilgrims were crossing Baghdad's Tigris River Bridge on their way to celebrate at the Kadhimiya mosque. The pilgrims were on their way to celebrate the martyrdom of Musa Al Kadhim, an important Shiite religious figure.
"Hundreds of people started running and some threw themselves off the bridge into the river," one Iraqi source said. "Many elderly died immediately as a result of the stampede but dozens drowned." Iraqi sources believe most of the victims to be women and children.
According to Reuters, two top Iraqi Shiite officials have accused loyalists to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of deliberately causing the tragedy stampede.
"We hold the terrorists, Saddamists and radical extremists, responsible for what happened," Ammar al Hakim, a leader in the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
However, Iraq's Defense Minister responded to the accusations, saying that the tragedy had nothing to do with rivalries in Iraq.
Earlier in the day, seven people were killed and 36 wounded when three separate mortar attacks targeted the Shiite pilgrims.
Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari announced a three day morning period in honor of the victims.
Many believe that such attacks will become more frequent as Iraq becomes increasing divided along ethnic lines against the backdrop of the nation's current constitution dispute. The proposed constitution was approved last Sunday by Iraq's national assembly, with Shiite and Kurdish delegates approving and Sunni Arab delegates objecting.
Shiites make up some 60 percent of Iraq's27 million population. They, along with Kurdish groups, expressed satisfaction with the constitution draft, which protects them from discrimination faced under former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Kurdish groups as well were pleased by the document's text, which set a 2007 deadline for settling whether the oil-rich region of Kirkuk should be a part of an autonomous Kurdish enclave.
Iraq's Sunni minority, comprising only 15 to30 percent of the nation's population, and seen as the backbone of resistance to Iraq's present US-backed regime, feels that they are being discriminated against by the countries vast majority.
They are expected to vote down the constitution when presented for public approval at an upcoming October referendum.
Some analysts feel that the constitution crisis could result in what might become an Iraqi "civil-war".
http://www.albawaba.com/en/news/188323
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Health Minister Abdul Mutalib Mohammad Ali had blamed the interior and defence ministers for the crush on Wednesday.
Mr Jaafari said the ministers had done everything possible to ensure the pilgrims' security and criticised Mr Ali for making his remarks in public.
Rumours of an impending suicide attack are said to have sparked the stampede.
About one million pilgrims are said to have converged for a Shia festival at Baghdad's Kadhimiya mosque on Wednesday when the lethal crush took place.
Officials have confirmed that at least 965 died.
After earlier mortar attacks on the crowd killed seven people, panic at the apparent prospect of further attacks spread easily through the throng.
Many of the dead were women, children, or elderly, who drowned when railings along a bridge over the River Tigris gave way under pressure.
It was the biggest loss of life in Iraq in one day since the US-led invasion of 2003.
Ministers blamed
Funerals for the dead are being held on Friday, and Mr Jaafari has declared a three-day period of mourning.
At a press conference with US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, he said he did not accept blame directed at ministers in his cabinet.
"It is not in our style of the government to exchange accusations on television screens," he said.
The health minister, Mr Ali, a Shia seen as an ally of the radical cleric Moqtada Sadr, had earlier demanded the resignation of two cabinet colleagues.
"I hold my colleagues in the ministries of interior and defence responsible for what happened today," he said.
Sectarian fears
Mr Jaafari, however, said both ministries had made adequate security preparations for the event.
"I thank my two brothers the defence minister and the interior minister for their efforts," he said.
"Terrorists had to resort to fire mortars from a distance because of security measures."
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He described the stampede as a "terrorist attack not separate from terrorist attacks in the past" and promised an inquiry into the disaster.
Other Shia leaders said the rumours of a suicide bomber were started deliberately by agents of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
However, Defence Minister Saadun al-Dulaim rejected this, saying the deaths were not linked to tensions between Iraq's Shia and Sunni communities.
"What happened has nothing at all to do with any sectarian tension," he said.
Insurgents linked to al-Qaeda have frequently attacked large gatherings of Iraqi Shia, whom they regard as apostates.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4203396.stm
The mourning process took place on Thursday as criticism mounts against the Shia-led government for failing to prevent the tragedy.
The tragedy highlighted the risks of assembling such large crowds of people in one of the world's most dangerous and unstable countries.
"This is a result of the inadequate performance of the interior and defence ministers which has caused such a loss of life," said Baha al-Aaraji, a Shia lawmaker affiliated to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
"They should be made to stand in front of the National Assembly and be questioned. If it is proven that they have failed to fulfill their responsibilities, they should be dismissed and stand trial," he said.
However, Shia political parties encourage huge turnouts at religious festivals to display the majority sect's power in the new Iraq.
But the huge crowds overtax the ability of police and security services to protect them.
Government actions
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, told state-run Iraqiya television that "the government should take measures for an honest investigation to determine how failures doubled the casualties."
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari and the ministers of defence and health visited a hospital where many of the victims were taken.
The prime minister, a Shia, said neighbouring countries including Jordan and Iran had offered to help treat the victims.
"We are ready to send abroad any patient who needs medical treatment there," he said.
The government has proclaimed a three-day period of mourning after the disaster, which appeared to have been sparked by a rumour that a bomber was among the more than one million people gathering at a Shia shrine in the capital.
A day after the disaster, hundreds of people were searching for their dead relatives at Baghdad hospitals.
Many of the bodies were strewn on the floor outside the hospital's morgue, which itself was packed with corpses.
Dozens of bodies were identified and taken away for burial by their relatives, medical workers said.
Conflicting figures
Iraq's Ministry of Interior announced on Thursday that a total of 953 people had died and 815 were injured in the chaos the day before on a bridge in north Baghdad.
But Health Ministry spokesman Qassim Yahya said 843 died and 439 were injured.
It was not possible to explain the difference.
Iraqi ministries routinely announce different death counts after disasters or major attacks, and discrepancies are often never reconciled.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C29706CE-738E-4539-9E57-370BDD10EF2D.htm