World

Bloody Holy Day In Iraq

February 20, 2005 / 6:04 PM EST / CBS/AP

Some began their long march dressed in white. Others wore black. But with each step and each flog of an iron chain whip, their cloaks slowly turned scarlet with their own blood on Saturday, this most holy day for Shiite Muslims.

They shredded and sliced their foreheads with swords and blood blinked from their eyes in a ritual of grief that Shiites in Iraq had been banned from carrying out during Saddam Hussein's rule.

But for the second year in a row, hundreds of thousands for pilgrims marked Ashoura, and again Shiite Muslims were attacked as they did so — eight suicide bombers and other attacks killed more than 50 people and injured dozens more in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq Saturday.

On Friday at least 36 people, mostly Shiites, were killed in a string of attacks as they gathered on the eve of Ashoura.

But tight security in Karbala following deadly Ashoura bombings last year that left 181 dead around Iraq proved effective. There were no attacks in the city.

In other developments:

A U.S. soldier was killed in an attack in Baghad.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of central Rome on Saturday to press for the release of an Italian journalist abducted in Iraq earlier this month. The somber march came days after the hostage, 56-year-old Giuliana Sgrena, was shown in a wrenching video pleading for her life and begging that foreign troops -- including Italian ones -- leave the country.

One of the strongest Shiite power brokers said the attacks had failed to create a divide between Shiites and Iraq's Sunni Arab minority. Bayan Jaber, a leading member of the Shiite Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said the attackers belonged to a small faction of Sunnis, "those who are extremist Whabbis who want to spark a civil war in Iraq…. We have tribal, marital, and historical relations with Sunnis and nothing will affect it."

A five-member U.S. Congressional delegation that includes Senator Hillary Clinton, a Democrat from New York, met with Iraqi government officials in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. "The fact that you have these suicide bombers now, wreaking such hatred and violence while people pray, is to me, an indication of their failure," Clinton told reporters. Rep. Sen. Lindsay Graham said the visit made clear to him U.S. forces won't be leaving anytime soon

In Baqouba, police chief Abdel Molan said his forces had arrested Haidar Abu Bawari, also know as the "Prince of the Holy Warriors." He was described as a top aide to al-Zarqawi and the man behind the insurgency in Baqouba. The Iraqi government also said it had arrested one of the masterminds of the insurgency in the northern city of Mosul, Harbi Abdul Khudair al-Mahmoudi, 50, also known as Abu Nor. He was a former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath party, an announcement said.

Ashoura falls on the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar. It is known as the day Imam Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad, was killed in a seventh century battle for leadership of the faith.

His death widened the split between Shiites and Sunnis. On Saturday, Shiites blamed Sunni insurgents for the attacks of the last two days. They had also blamed last year's carnage on the Sunnis.

To avoid that happening, Iraq's interim government sealed all roads leading to the Shiite shrines and banned vehicles from entering the city.

Millions of pilgrims flock annually to Karbala and its twin city Najaf, two of the holiest cities for Shiites.

Most of the shops in Karbala were closed and pilgrims who traveled from around the country to attend ceremonies slept on carpets laid out in the streets. Televisions were switched off and animals were sacrificed — camels, cows and sheep — to be cooked in enormous pots shared by neighbors and visitors.

Pilgrims flagellate themselves and beat their bloody brows to mourn the death of Imam Hussein. They also hold festivals depicting events of the battle in ritual detail, including scene depicting the bravery of Hussein's half brother, Abbas, killed while searching for water for the thirsty group.

Slicing foreheads with the edge of a sword in a practice known as "al-Tatbeer" — meaning "sword" in Arabic, some pilgrims beat themselves while chanting "Haidar, Haider," a name by which Hussein is also known.

"This is how we should mourn Hussein," said Fadhil Abdul Abbas, 30. "We should suffer as much as he suffered."

Volunteers of the Red Crescent, the Muslim Red Cross, stood by Hussein's shrine in case of medical emergencies.

But some Shiites refused to participate in the ritual, claiming it was too violent. Even Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most powerful man in Shiite Iraq, does not approve of al-Tatbeer, his office told The Associated Press.

Abdul Raziq Hussain said he will not teach his children al-Tatbeer, because "Hussein himself wouldn't have liked it."

"I can beat my chest with my hands, I can hold mourning tents and I can make food for the visitors," the 45-year-old shop owner said. "But I don't want to harm my body."