During a mass panic during a Muslim festival in Iraq, at least 31 people were killed. 100 people were injured, reported the Iraqi news agency INA, citing the Ministry of Health.
The cause of the accident is still unclear. According to first reports, there was a mass panic among the participants. The Iraqi city of Kerbela south of Baghdad is the center of the Shiite Ashura festival. Every year several pilgrims go through the streets there.
With the Ashura Festival, the faithful remember the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. After the Shiite conviction, he died a martyr's death in 680 AD. He had been killed with his followers at the Battle of Karbala in the fight against the caliph Jasid. The battle marks the split between Shiites and Sunnis.